Okay, so this isn’t the deep strategy and tactics write up for this race. However, if you are new to the game then here are my honest thoughts about how to win regardless of the starting race.
During the Game:
Be Consistent; Defence or Offence can work as a strategy but you have to be consistent. You either build a strong defensive barrier or you build a force that can consistently attack. If you attack, and don’t push forward then your opponents can rebuild and will easily push you back – seize the ground, and get the objective. Only yield when the points are on the board.
Movement; The movement of vehicles in this game is key. Either through wormholes, technology or through vehicle upgrades – you need a bit more movement than the starting profile to opportunistically seal those objectives. Decide how your fleet will function – the balance of ships and the balance of carriers, and then look at the map to see if there’s a vantage point over a wormhole. These give you quick movement and access to more planets than normal map movement.
Economy; For new players I would advocate a focus on resources over influence. Influence can dictate the late game, but with a very random walk of political agendas, you are going to want to build resources and use these to build the fleet. Don’t ignore influence completely though because the secondary of leadership requires it for more command tokens.
Rex; First to Mercatol Rex will have a target on their back. Do not do this in your first game – it can help with influence, and it can score you victory points, but unless you are truly ready and willing to defend it, your home and nothing else – then don’t invade.
Home Systems; That unstoppable plan of your opponent – it’s never unstoppable. It’s a simple case of invading their home planet. Good players will defend these planets heavily just before game end, but if they are exposed (or can be) then this can stop any big scoring plan.
Capacity; Fleet capacity is key to late game battles. Initially carriers move in with fighters screening the important ships, but eventually you need a mix of carriers, dreadnoughts and perhaps even a war sun to fight with. This can only be achieved by increasing the capacity of your fleet. Don’t go too high though – beyond 4/5 spaces is an unparalleled invasion force, but also too many resources in one place!
Leadership for the win; The leadership strategy is key at the last minute – it is the tie breaker if there are multiple players going for the win. However, this is only in a long game with a big final turn of objectives (where players are close) where this will impact the game.
Trade & Tech; If these are in your strategy then play to it early. People will generally let you get trade early, let you tech early, but once you are a threat these are easily blocked or challenged. When trading, also be sure to be forceful – a poor trade in the early game might cost you the final turns.
Good Neighbours; They might not become good friends, but they will allow you to trade. Even a single cruiser will give you enough to trade – just park it next to your opponent and use it to trade.
Demilitarised; The notion of a demilitarised zone is compelling, but the reality is different. This will hurt both players, prevent trade and ultimately doesn’t really provide you protection. The only way to trust a player is to not have something they want, or have a bigger force.
Good Luck!
Elusive Meeple 
Thanks for this. I think this is a useful post to get people thinking but I can’t say I agree with everything here. If you don’t mind I’ll put a few of my thoughts down.
RE Mecatol: First thing I’d say is that the number one problem I see with new players is a lack of aggression. They tend to sit in their slice, building up and planning some big move but never make it before the game ends. I’d say if you’re a new player, plan to make that big move early. Move on Mecatol, push for that equidistant. Don’t be intimidated by more experienced players – their dice roll just the same as yours. You may not always win doing this but you’ll never win by letting the game pass you by.
RE Leadership: Leadership is a top tier strategy card at almost any point in the game, as it gives you a bunch of resources and mobility. It also can give you a lot of control over a round, as you can potentially stall it out so that everyone has to pass and you get to act on your own to grab points and planets at the end of the round. You’re correct that, if the game is going to come down to the wire at the end, it’s most important function is setting who will score first (and therefore win) at the end of the round, but this is actually more about planning ahead and getting politics the round before, therefore getting first pick on strategy cards.
Some other general comments:
War: Was is expensive. It’s usually more trouble than its worth. Sometimes you need to make moves on people to get points – that’s just how it goes, but it’s always best to negotiate/trade/threaten first before launching into a war with someone. If you are going to war, catch them by surprise and beat them into submission. In particular, take control of their means of production. The last thing you want is them coming back with bigger fleets every round.
Deals: TI4 has a million things you can make a deal over that will get you ahead in the game. Make sure you have an idea what your fellow players alliances do, what promissory notes they have to offer, what their agent does, because all of these things can be bought and sold and can really help you out. If you have good abilities and promissory notes yourself, sell them as much as you can (making sure the player you sell them to will use them quickly and give them back). Make that money! The added bonus is that people are far less likely to attack people they are in the habit of making deals with. So be helpful and offer good deals. You can really trade your way to a victory doing this.
LikeLike