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While initially dissapointed with MOO3, (let's face it... this even the most die-hard fanboy has to admit it's not as good as we hoped) the game underneath the flaws has convinced me to invest some time in playing it. I've taken some random notes, which I hope are useful to someone. 
Most of my games to date have been played as a humanoid. The humanoids have some excellent government options, and some nice (offensive) spying bonuses. All games thus far have been with stock races.
MOO3 REX
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Until the AI decides to attack you early in the game, REXing is the only opening option. Unlike Civ3, a strategy of weakening your neighbors seems to be useless. Hopefully your base system contains a few green planets, and maybe even a magnate civilization. I like to buid one system colony at my homeworld, then crank out the regular colony ships. The first panet colonized in my home system should immediaetly get to work on additional system colonies to populate the home system.
My first priority for coonization is not green planets. Magnate Civilisations are critical to get going early, as you have virtually no control over their distribution and growth. Seek out these specials and colonize them above all others! While one colony ship cannot populate a planet sufficiently, you may use the colony ship to create a starter colony, and fill the planet with migration. As soon as the new colony is created, switch off the migration and let the Magnate Civiliztion populate those yellow and red planets in your territory.
Second priority are systems containing many jumps and/or wormholes. These are the chokepoint systems where you will be facing the most possible attacks. A green or even yellow planet here should be a top priority. I like to try and confine my border systems to one or two. Barricade systems such as the Orion and/or guardian systems are good early-game buffers. Expand past your neighbor's borders if a chokepoint lies behind their frontier planets. Those planets inside "your" territory will be the first targets for conquest. Systems in your backfield which have wormholes are problematic, as they need adequate defending as well.
The Importance of Spycraft
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has not yet been proven that defensive spies accomplish much of anything in MOO3. The only variables seem to be the level of oppression you inflict upon your population and the various tech advantages. While I cannot prove this assumption, I have found that regardless of the viability of defensive spies, those resources are much more effective in the field. spy production in my empire is constant... and the new recruits are immediately deployed in the field. When at a state of peace, I find that concentration in scientific spying is the most productive, but a war situation with one or more nations may call for a variety of spying solutions. It's difficult to assess the effectiveness of offensive spying in other areas other than research, so I tend to concentrate in areas which produce tangible results, ie. stolen tech.
Military
~~~~~
At the beginning of a new game, I obsolete all ship designs save for solonies and system colonies. My initial military fleet production will not begin until the first level of tech is discovered. I generally use destroyer-class SRA ships as system defense. They build quickly and are good pirate defense, without dedicating too much production to static defenses. I will upgrade the system defense as each level of shielding becomes available. While there may be more logical intervals at which to upgrade, shield strength is as good a time as any to update ship designs. Colony ships on the other hand, are upgraded as each level of warp drive becomes available.
For the starship classes, I wil generally keep no more than two squadrons in the early game. Initially, these will be groups of 2 SRA and 2 LRA attackers, but once battleship becomes available, I will build two additional task forces, in a carrier + 3 escort configuration. These task forces are more than sufficient to hunt pirates and man border systems as needed. In the lategame, I favor a balanced offensive, with LRA, Carrier, and IF armadas all backed up with sufficient PD and recon support. I find it useful to build a larger-chassis troopship in the midgame, and combine 4 troop pods with a generous IF compliment for some added punch in invasions. Destroyer-class SRA ships are very effective as escorts for larger capital ships. While cruiser or larger escorts can be effective, I find destroyers to be more than adequate to stop incoming missiles and fighters, and save production points for a larger compliment of mission ships.
Until the patch comes out, we're all playing a flawed gem with laughable documentation. The MOO3 community is going to have to write their own strategy guide, right here in the Apolyton forums. Hope I helped someone out there,
Most of my games to date have been played as a humanoid. The humanoids have some excellent government options, and some nice (offensive) spying bonuses. All games thus far have been with stock races.
MOO3 REX
~~~~~~~~
Until the AI decides to attack you early in the game, REXing is the only opening option. Unlike Civ3, a strategy of weakening your neighbors seems to be useless. Hopefully your base system contains a few green planets, and maybe even a magnate civilization. I like to buid one system colony at my homeworld, then crank out the regular colony ships. The first panet colonized in my home system should immediaetly get to work on additional system colonies to populate the home system.
My first priority for coonization is not green planets. Magnate Civilisations are critical to get going early, as you have virtually no control over their distribution and growth. Seek out these specials and colonize them above all others! While one colony ship cannot populate a planet sufficiently, you may use the colony ship to create a starter colony, and fill the planet with migration. As soon as the new colony is created, switch off the migration and let the Magnate Civiliztion populate those yellow and red planets in your territory.
Second priority are systems containing many jumps and/or wormholes. These are the chokepoint systems where you will be facing the most possible attacks. A green or even yellow planet here should be a top priority. I like to try and confine my border systems to one or two. Barricade systems such as the Orion and/or guardian systems are good early-game buffers. Expand past your neighbor's borders if a chokepoint lies behind their frontier planets. Those planets inside "your" territory will be the first targets for conquest. Systems in your backfield which have wormholes are problematic, as they need adequate defending as well.
The Importance of Spycraft
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has not yet been proven that defensive spies accomplish much of anything in MOO3. The only variables seem to be the level of oppression you inflict upon your population and the various tech advantages. While I cannot prove this assumption, I have found that regardless of the viability of defensive spies, those resources are much more effective in the field. spy production in my empire is constant... and the new recruits are immediately deployed in the field. When at a state of peace, I find that concentration in scientific spying is the most productive, but a war situation with one or more nations may call for a variety of spying solutions. It's difficult to assess the effectiveness of offensive spying in other areas other than research, so I tend to concentrate in areas which produce tangible results, ie. stolen tech.
Military
~~~~~
At the beginning of a new game, I obsolete all ship designs save for solonies and system colonies. My initial military fleet production will not begin until the first level of tech is discovered. I generally use destroyer-class SRA ships as system defense. They build quickly and are good pirate defense, without dedicating too much production to static defenses. I will upgrade the system defense as each level of shielding becomes available. While there may be more logical intervals at which to upgrade, shield strength is as good a time as any to update ship designs. Colony ships on the other hand, are upgraded as each level of warp drive becomes available.
For the starship classes, I wil generally keep no more than two squadrons in the early game. Initially, these will be groups of 2 SRA and 2 LRA attackers, but once battleship becomes available, I will build two additional task forces, in a carrier + 3 escort configuration. These task forces are more than sufficient to hunt pirates and man border systems as needed. In the lategame, I favor a balanced offensive, with LRA, Carrier, and IF armadas all backed up with sufficient PD and recon support. I find it useful to build a larger-chassis troopship in the midgame, and combine 4 troop pods with a generous IF compliment for some added punch in invasions. Destroyer-class SRA ships are very effective as escorts for larger capital ships. While cruiser or larger escorts can be effective, I find destroyers to be more than adequate to stop incoming missiles and fighters, and save production points for a larger compliment of mission ships.
Until the patch comes out, we're all playing a flawed gem with laughable documentation. The MOO3 community is going to have to write their own strategy guide, right here in the Apolyton forums. Hope I helped someone out there
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