Favourite SE choice?

[Skanderbeg]

Demo, Green, Knowledge, Cybernetic (the last after building the Network Backbone).

And I avoid FM like the Devil avoids Holy Water.

[Daniel Senz]

one of a greatest choices for times of war and times of relatively peace in my opinion are fundy/green/knowledge

thats unbeatable efficience, almost unbeatable money (app. 500+ energy/turn made by mindworm-hunting mindworms at no support costs at turn 100+) and +1 morale for all troops (!), and due to growth i never felt a need after the first 100 turns (when population boom is done withing 5-8 turns @ high psycho rate).
when my industruy can suffer i sometimes tahe power

@ Skanderbeg
FM suxx and its eco-damage is not nice - and green provides more many i think, not to forget the drones...

[Fitz]

Police State/Green/Power is great but has limited use. You must have prepared by building lots of units and growing your bases large, unless you nab the cloning vats. It also requires a small compact empire. But if you meet these circumstances, it is perfect.

When I first started playing, I used it all the time, but now whenever I am on a smallish island, I frequently stop expanding when I fill the island, switched to Demo/Planned to pop boom to max size, all the while cranking out tons of Marine/Transports and Boats. Once I reach the max base size, switch to Police/Green/Power, get rid of the specialists preventing riots (instead using police) and send my boats to capture worms and transports to capture enemy bases.

The benefits are +4 Support (14 free units/max base, each with 2 special abilities), +2 Morale (Elite replacement troops w CC/NY/AC/BC), +2 Planet (Isle of Deeps replace transports quickly), and +2 Police (keep the drones down without maintainance costs).

The dowside without the Vats is -2 Industry and -2 Growth (and 0 efficiency regardless). Industry neccessitates building up the army ahead of time. Growth necessitates growing up the bases ahead of time. Effeciency necessitates keeping a small empire.

I too had to ween myself from ending up in this every game I played, but still use it when the situation seems appropriate.