I always found population trumps all else. So if you have modifiers like subterranean (higher max pop per planet) plus maybe a pop growth increase, you’re likely to win.
Another one I always went with was to pick Repulsive (no diplomacy) since you’ll end up at war with everyone anyway.
You can wipe the floor with everyone early using a warlord + telepathic + trans-dimensional combination. Fire missles and run around. As soon as the planetary fortress falls, the planet is yours, no invasion needed. I abused it so much that friends banned the combination from multiplayer.
Interesting! Reminds me of a Civ 1 hack: build your cities one square apart, research until you can build chariots, then build a tidal wave of them. It’s against the spirit of the game but you can beat almost any other strategy this way.
I liked Telepath and silicoid - you skip all food and ground-combat skills, since you take over planets with your mind! Better than the Psilon who get all tech branches - you don't even need half of them! And can do industrial development on all planets (no wasted population making food)
Btw what I loved in Moo2 was taking planets with their population, you didn't just wipe them out, but assimilated them in your empire, and could use those colonists to settle inhospitable planets.
Another one I always went with was to pick Repulsive (no diplomacy) since you’ll end up at war with everyone anyway.