I have been playing this little game fulltime since launch now and so far i have been preferring 1v1 and FFA and i do good in team games too. In 1v1 and FFA i have not been defeated yet.

In one v one i go mostly for rush or atleast i secure my power and rush a little later.

In the beginning i:
-buy 200 crystal
-upgrade population on my homeworld
-build capital shipyard next to frigate yard and a crystal extractor
-que a missionary and a scout
-que a metal extractor and a scout
-and the last metal extractor
if there is one next door i go to the next first asteroid with my cap and the migrator at once, the cap kills the siege while the migrator takes fire and it blows up before it gets the chance to undo my colony
-if there is an asteroid nearby i go there next or i go clear an ice/fire planet for cap experience (send in cap first so it takes all fire, and destroy LRM's first)
-if advent/tec i que up light frigates untill i hit the fleet maximum if vasari i tech to assailants and max out my fleet capacity that way.
-if tec/advent i will tech for trade ports before or after spending 3000 credits on more light frigates and from there on what i decide to do just varies too much with every random map i get.

-if vasari i focus on getting a forward planet nearby enemy to build shipyards to quickly reinforce the front with advent/tec i prefer to get 9c/s going from trade ports before spamming more frigates or military research. If the enemy is any good i may try to stale and tech up the tech tree for an edge over his military (tec support cruisers that heal hull with LRMs, advent illuminators with shield support cruisers and subjugators or the vasari assailant ability upgrade that gives extra range)

If you want a more graphic idea of what i usually do download this replay pack
It has 2 replays of me playing 1v1 with each faction (6 recordings total). unzip the recordings
if you have
WinXP to: C:\Documents and Settings\XXXXX\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Record-MultiPlayer (where XXXXX is the username you use to log in)
or Vista to: X:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\RecordedGame (where X is the harddrive you put windows on and XXXXX your username you use to log in)
and go to your singleplayer menu and hit the watch recordings button and they should all pop up like popcorn.

Any comment apreciated as well as anyone that may be capable of defeating me, i would love that for now because it would be something different and will provide a challenge/excitement/stimulation. (I would also like to know how to whisper someone who is not playing with me while playing.)