this actually balances the game out because the vasari have the worst lrf, so they need money for upgrades and also all of their ships are more expensive and most take up far more fleet points than their counterparts.

But in response to your actual query, I don't think the strategy changes so much for Advent. For TEC, if you really can't get a worthwhile trade chain going, then you're probably going to have to either: a) just contribute what you can to your teammates' efforts, or turtle up and rush to pervasive economy (especially on a 5v5 map...). However, most likely you're better off just sucking it up and putting a starbase on a neutral and connecting two smaller planet chains of ports. TEC also get to put a trade port on dead asteroids after 6 civ labs.

well the worst ive ever had is 4 jumps to the nearest planet from my HW. we almost lost that game.

i have seen that a bit. Rubee always hosts bigger than he will play. I usually never host bigger because i want a fair game not one with 2000 nutrals.

Yeah - he always does 4v4 on huge and will never make it 5v5 even if players are available. Normally results in a 5v5 being setup and a number of people jumping over...

Anyway, a few observations I would like to make

1) Generally in 5v5 games there should be at least 1 of each race per team.

2) Quick start reduces the advantage of neutrals as the other races can get out and grab them quicker. It's hard to hold neutrals against a colony ship and some combat ships...

3) Vassari don't get trade until 4 civics are up and they pay 1000C, 150M and 250C. Those neutrals are all that keeps them in the early game considering the cost of their units and how illums kill them and can be out within 5 minutes... Compare this with Advent who get the cheap upgrades to planet infra, allowing them to get good econ without having trade up...

I actually do a lot of experimentation with galaxy forge.  To date, this is (imo) my best balanced map:

The problem is, there's only so much I can do to test these different map designs against AI's, and without an automatic download system it's so prohibitive to test them with players (especially when you're tweaking to find the right balance).

Worse yet, there's no control over asteroid or militia distribution, so even if I do get things right there's always the chance a neutral well will turn up barren or one of your nearby planets will be swarming with neutral militia but your enemy's is not. My personal pet peeve is currently with magnetic clouds popping up in "random uncolonizable" wells, because they block starbases (and therefor trade routes) and cannot support extractors.

Darvin that is a really awsome map.  3 ways to get to the other guy...

1. 7 jumps the old fashioned way... not so easy to rush that... and dont forget... sending in reinforcments via a rally point through 2 desert planets with high millitia is prolly a bad idea...

2. do a bit of research and jump to the sun... but you still got to get around that sun... which takes a little while... on the plus side... your antimatter reserves will be full... on the down side... you spent 2-3 labs and a tier 3 research... expect your opponent to be caught off guard, but he will have a better fleet. perhaps a nice way for a vasari to send a starbase to the homeworld while the main fleets are fighting over the deserts.

3. go hightech, and head through those worm holes.... something they will not expect... and a great way to get past that desert if he build a big mean starbase there. Do not rush. really. dont.

darvin, you should put that map somewheres where people can download it... cause I would love to play that map against a human!  (expecially if the roids and the millitas were forced to be equal... *sigh*.)