In alien-vs.-human combat, sling around nerve gas as if it were going out of style. Because there are no interspecies atrocities, the discovery of High Energy Chemistry (which enables Nerve Gas Pods) is as significant as learning to build Needle Jets with Doctrine: Air Power.

If you're playing as the Pirates, nutrients and energy are easy to come by, so make mineral production a priority at your base locations. If you bump up your energy production with Tidal Harnesses, your income will easily rival that of the wealthy Morganites.

Because the Cybernetic Consciousness steal technologies when they conquer a base, and because they don't have any significant drawbacks when playing a military game, they should be played as aggressively as the Spartans or Believers against their weaker neighbors.