1. Doctrine Air Power - Having a strong air force is critical to your success, as it lets you get your forces to key locations rapidly. If you're stuck with ground forces while the other factions are flying around in shiny new jets, well, you're in a big trouble. Developing a strong air fleet should be one of your main priorities, as it will give you some bargaining chips in diplomacy. If the opposition knows you have a strong military, especially in air power, they'll be slightly more open to technology exchanges... or else.

2. Get to the Golden Age! A Golden Age occurs when a base has no drones, and the number of talents at least equals the number of regular workers and specialists. A Golden Age significantly increases a base's growth rate and energy production equivalent to +1 economy and +2 growth on the social engineering table.

3. Make sure your units have a high morale! Morale reflects the training and experience of your military units. Morale levels range from very green to green to disciplined to hardened, veteran, commando, and elite. A unit receives a +12.5 percent combat bonus for each morale level. Morale plays a particularly important role in psi combat and in combat between probe teams, since no weapon and armor values are considered in those cases. New units typically begin with green morale, though this may be higher or lower depending on your social engineering. A new unit's morale can also be increased if a base has a command center or other related facility. Alien units such as mind worms have life cycles that correspond to morale levels. Alien units are not affected by command centers and military facilities, but their life cycle levels can be improved by building biology labs and other similar facilities. The transport capacity of an Isle of the Deep is determined by its life cycle level: one unit for each level. A unit victorious in combat will often receive a morale upgrade (the lower its morale level, the more likely an upgrade). Elite units receive a special bonus - an additional move each turn.

4. Uncover as many supply pods as possible by building a moderate fleet of scout units to canvass as much territory as possible. Most importantly, get as many alien artifacts as possible, as this will give you a huge technological advantage over your opponent. Artifacts are mysterious and unexplained alien devices sometimes discovered on Planet. If you can find an artifact and return it to one of your bases, you will have several options. You can link it to a network node if you have one and receive a free technology breakthrough. You can use it to speed the production of a secret project or unit prototype. You can save it to use later. Artifacts can be captured from other players. An unclaimed artifact can be captured by any player without diplomatic penalty.