Starting player options and Techs

[RecursivelyEnumerable]

I just wanted to ask around: what fleets do you like to start with, and which techs do you usually unlock to begin with?

My typical choices are (If AI Type is Full Ensemble or unknown):

-Parasitic Fleet
-Shield/Eclectic Battlestation
-Rejuvenator Combat Factory

Gotta love the Parasitic Fleet. I choose the Rejuvenator mostly because of the extra Engineers.

Techs:
-2 levels of Fusion
-2 levels of Technologist
-Metal Generation
-Engineering

This leaves 1500 for future purchases, and a fleet of Mark III Muggers and Parasites, enabling me to do some serious zombifying right off the bat.
If you have a typical starting "config", I'd love to see it! 

[ArnaudB]

In term of non-modded startion option my prefered setup is: Mugger/Parasite fleet, Webbed Battlestation and Rejuvenator.

Webbed has MLRS turrets which are Fusion turrets. I can put two points in fusion, put 1000 science to mark up the Battlestation (not in research, in the Fleet panel), which increase all of its turrets Mark by 1 so my MLRS are Mark IV right off the bat. For 5250 science (Fusion1, Fusion2, Battlestation) that's great.

Further, Webbed has the Revealer Battlestation which break cloaking on all units on the planet, that's perfect to take on the offensive. It also has Spider Turrets which are great for stopping reinforcement, or for preventing AI ships from leaving so you can kill them and prevent them from becoming threat elsewhere.

I'll often try to pick up Subterfuge/Technologist (either) to go mass parasite or mass paralyse/slowdown. That usually involved either Warbird Frigates, spiders and various version of parasites. Then Generalist ships because Webbed has Nucleo generalist turret which is really good against big-ships and guard posts, and Ablative Gatling is always useful to get.

Rejuvenator has the most engineer and its decoy are great, so I tend to pick it by default.

So tech: 2 Fusion, 1 Battlestation. 1-2 Mark of Home Command (1000 and 3000 science) or Metal+ 1 Mark of Home Command. Engineer 1 and 2. Either Subterfuge or Generalist depending on nearby fleet/ARS/Vault to claim.

*

My second choice is Doorkicker with modded Battlestations and usually Electic battlestation or Webbed. Still Rejuvenator (because offensive turrets use requires engineer en-masse).

Doorkicker is really, really good.  The inhibiting Tesla ships are surprisingly useful at stalling entire enemy fleet. Each Tesla can hit 20 enemies so despite their low numbers they can lock down a large amount of enemy. Combine that with a Fleet Extender and you can often get 48 Mark three Tesla to weapon Jam 960  enemy units. When you're entering a planet their cooldown don't matter, it'll however give the crucial seconds to drop 1-5 turrets and quick-build them with engineer before the enemy can kill them. I have oft killed Dire Guardian by dropping 2 plasma turrets near a wormhole.
Anyway since tesla work versus <70 armor, it means you can completely skip adding concussion corvette and Splash unit with bonus versus low armor. You might still want concussion since doorkick has Siege.

Siege frigate is the "blow things up" that's available with doorkicker and you can stack it with bombards. Tesla lock down vast amount of enemies and let your Siege/Bombard comes out of their 30 seconds cooldown to kill stuff without dying. The Vanguard Hydra and Pulsar on the other hand gives you tanky stuff to hold the enemy with. Vanguard Hydras in particular are really good. The 'head' small versions add a lot of high-health ships for the AI to kill and that's great.

I pick Electic for Fusion/Concu turrets that can help deal with large opposition, and also because it synergize pretty well with Doorkicker. Webbed still work better despite tech splitting, as Fusion/Nucleo allow to situationally deal with whatever your Siege/Bombard have trouble dealing with. Spider turrets in particular show up again to stall enemies that Tesla can't jam and reduce the number of enemies locally. Bombard and Siege are long range, so if you drop 5-10 spider turrets on the planet a lot won't be able to close with either. It's completely worth dropping 150-300k metal in spider turrets.

Tech is very similar: Splash 1, Concussion 2, Subterfuge 1, 1-2 Mark of Home Command or Metal+1 Mark of Home Command. Engineer 2 (Siege/Bombard cost a lot so rebuilding them fast is key, also quick-build spider turrets).

[ANGRYABOUTELVES]

Cloaked Fleet, Rejuvenator Factory, Webbed Defenses.
1 Level of: Ambush, Generalist, Subterfuge, Light Hulls, Forcefields, Engineering. Starting planet science goes to upgrading the Rejuv Factory twice, Revealer Battlestation once, and the Home Planet Station once.

This gets 3 wings of your starter fleet to Mk3, the Revealer BS's Spider and Generalist turrets to Mk3 and MLRS turrets to Mk2, and all of your home planet's metal/energy/defenses to Mk2. Picking up a level in light hulls is not only slightly cheaper than getting Ambush, Generalist, and Subterfuge to level 2, it also upgrades a ton of good pickups including Telsa Torpedo Frigates, V-Wings, Tritium Sniper Frigates, Raiders, and a lot more.

After you capture a couple more planets, getting Fusion and Disruption to level 2 would be a good choice as that will upgrade your turrets, defensive frigates, and your Agravic Pods. Alternatively you can double down on Generalist wings like Autocannons, V-Wings, and Tritium Snipers, or if you've found a bunch of Tesla Torpedo Frigates you can switch to investing heavily in Splash, or get more paralysis and engine slow from more Warbird Frigates and Spiders.