Things to remember . . .
Don't WASTE your fuel! (HINT: Don't fly around at warp 9 with low tech engines, that is VERY stupid)
Have your freighters bring fuel home.
High technology engines are very important.
Your planets will quickly run out of minerals. There is only a limited amount of minerals in to core of each planet. It is very important for you to search for new planets with minerals and bring the minerals back home to your starbase.
Molybdenum is the rarest mineral of all.
Be careful not to run out of any one mineral or you won't be able to build any new ships.
Don't leave your friendly code set to "AAA" or else enemy ships will very easily steal fuel and minerals from your planets and enemy starbases my force you to surrender. Think of the friendly codes as the planets or ships "password" that allows access to the starship transporters and planetary defense shields.
Also two ships or a ship and a planet of different races will not attack each other if they have matching Friendly Codes.
Change the Friendly Code on the starships that are defending your planets. If you don't enemy ships can set their friendly codes to "AAA" and fly right past the ships that are guarding your planet and attack your planet.
It is very dangerous to be next to an enemy Starbase if they know your friendly code. This gives the power to the Starbase to drop your shields and beam your whole crew off in a matter of seconds and force your ship to surrender.
Do as much exploring as possible. Small freighters are great scout ships and they are dirt cheap. Send them out to parts of space where nobody will bother you.
Attack enemy freighters with small warships (capital ships).This will really cause great pain to your enemies.
Be aware of your special Race Advantages and use them.
Be aware of your enemies special Race Advantages .