I find it hilarious that a couple of you guys started with everything on and then slowly turned it off. That's such a gung ho way to learn the game, and so contrary to the logical progression of human learning (step by step). I love that.
Heh, I actually went a few steps further. I switched to Fast & Dangerous on my first games too (back when that was the fastest option) and enabled Schizophrenic Waves for the AI because I thought that a realistic galactic menace would be one that didn't let me trivially Rock-Paper-Scissors its fleets.
I did the same as Kron. Everything on, all expansions and go wild. After a while I learnt what I like and not. By then I turned off a couple of things, like Astro Trains, Miners and Human Rebellions. Not quite ready for those just yet.
Ooh, I did the same thing: start with everything and dial down the bits I don't like. I ended up removing Astro Trains as they felt really annoying and really
arbitrary (my mind cannot fit them into any model of interstellar warfare at all). I hate immersion breakers.