I read this thread and your guide first, then bought the game.

Amobea are good as a starter race. The map I was playing had another Amobea, Avian and Human. The Amobea-pc strain allied with the Avian and invaded the human race. I on the other hand raced to all the main population potential centers and put outposts on them. My biggest threat has been pirates so far. Anyhow after figuring out that Amobea make a 4X title into a 3X title and they drop my favourite X of eXploration I've started again.

New game is the Horatio. Largest galaxy (two colliding) with eight players and the rest of the settings to normal. Again racing for wormholes with a side dish of Redsang since one of the 3 inhabitable planets out of 7 star systems has Redsang... so might as well make the most of that cup of tea.

It would be strange if I find a Horatio-pc player. Given that the Horatio are all a clone of their leader.