Feepness -
          Beg for an update. It doesn't make much of a difference to
          unload people from the government center.

  Lestat -
          Unload a few people from your government center to join in
          the first reproductive pass. Be sure to leave at least one in
          so you'll get APs! Spend the APs you have moving a few people
          around diagonally from your starting sector, to encourage
          widespread colonization. Decide if you want a tax rate
          (lowers efficiency I believe) or mobilization (eventually
          produces destructive capacity at the expense of resources).
          Chat some with other players.

  Keskiolut -
          Unload @, spread the ppl to next-to-@-sectors. Because you
          NEED as much ppl as possible and they do _not_ reproduce
          without you spreading them. Even if you have high adventurism
          this is recommended.

  Neue Regel -
          Get your MIN-SEXES to as many sectors as you can. You will be
          limited by both AP's and total population. I tend to unload
          4-6 people from my @ before the 1st update. Load them back in
          after the update though.

  Garfel -
          Unload your @ (load #number c -10). Depending on your number
          of sexes, that number of people to the highest fertility
          sectors so you have a lot of people after the 1st update.

  Cylons -
          Move your people around. It's important to get your planet
          covered as much as possible. Move them around in small groups
          so you use fewer action points. Soon, your people will start
          making resources and fuel. HINT: Use the 'analysis' command
          to determine which sectors are your most resource rich. It's
          probably not a good idea to unload people from the government
          center. You need people there to maintain efficiency, which
          is a very important aspect of sector stats. The more
          efficient you are, the faster you pump out res. And the more
          efficient your government, well. . . think about it.

  Thing -
          On the first update, take enough people out of your @ and
          move them 1 space away from your @. This will help you spread
          out faster, but you will not get as many AP's as fast. After
          the first update, load the @ to full again.

  Muu -
          The most enjoyable thing to do, and sometimes really useful,
          is to meet all the people. Potential allies and enemies
          always pop up. You should also look at your position and
          determine possible routes to nearby stars. That's about all I
          usually do before the update, except for unloading the @. On
          the very first update, I usually unload five(5) crew from the
          government center. I then spread them around to five nearby
          sectors. After the first update, one should always reload the
          center with crew, as an insufficiently manned center does not
          produce Action Points(AP's), which, as you will find out,
          limits the number of actions you can do. AP's are vital in
          the beginning of the game.

  Fnebish Legion -
          Nothing, unless you want to try unloading your government
          center Raising tax rates and mobilizing should come after
          about the 6th or 7th updates, IMHO. If you will be on at the
          update so that you can reload your center after the first
          update, go ahead and do it. Unloading your center at the
          beginning, taking 4 crew out, is nice because it gives you a
          head start on your expansion at the cost of only a couple of
          AP's (this is not entirely clear to me due to conflicting
          information, but I'm told that centers probably _don't_
          produce fewer AP's with less crew inside...still, you might
          as well keep it fully loaded after the first update).

  Microbians -
          If you are playing in a game where you start out with 1200
          people, You probably want to colonize the four sectors on a
          diagonal from your start sector. (I assume here that all
          races have six sexes or less) If your race has one sex move
          one person into each sector, otherwise move six. This will
          use your APs most efficiently. If you are playing in a game
          where you start with one person, you might want to unload the
          government center, but never unload more than 5 and reload it
          immediately after the first turn.

  Tribbles -
          Drop the # of civ's in capitol by half. Use extra population
          on the planet. Remember to load up the cap again later. Also,
          spread people over sectors, just put your # of sexes in each
          sector that you have AP for. ample. I have 1 sex, thus I move
          1 pop into all but one of the surrounding sectors, I then
          move all but one in orig sector into the one empty sector,
          then I repeat the process again until planet is covered. If
          you have over 40 pop in a sector though, move only half. If
          costs too much AP to move more than 20 pop.

  NB -
          Not much! Try out commands, read the help extensively, and
          try to communicate via broadcasting with other players. I've
          never tried to unload my @! Hey, maybe I'm not all that far
          from a newbie myself.

  TheCulture -
          Unload the crew of the government center (@), and move people
          to nearby sectors that look promising (high resources and
          compatible sector type). Chat with the other players. Try not
          to think of the million other things you should be doing
          instead of playing this (altogether too addictive) game....

  Froos -
          Spread your people out. I usually unload my @. For a morph,
          dump off about 3 or 4. You only have 5 AP's to start out
          with, and it costs one to move one guy, so dropping off more
          really doesn't help.

  Griffons -
          Unload your @ and spread the pop out, but don't forget to
          load the @ back up after the update

  Pillarian -
          First, unload 5 crew from your capitol (ship number of your
          capitol will be equal to your race number)...eg, "load @ c
          -5" or "load #shipnum c -5". Once you have done this, you
          spread out the 5 pop (one at a time as you have only 5 AP's
          before the first update. Make sure you don't move the pop
          onto incompatible sectors. This is, of course only if you are
          a one sex race; you would have to modify the numbers for how
          many sexes you have. As long as you move a whole "breeding
          group" you are okay. The good point of this: It helps get
          your pop increasing faster; fert and eff on those sectors
          will already start to increase. Bad: You will get half the
          AP's that update, so I suggest after the first update you
          load your gov center back up. Remember that a capitol or gov
          center will only produce AP in relation to its current level
          of crew (ie. 100% crew gives you 100% AP, etc.). The next
          thing you should do is have a look at the number and
          distribution of the planets in your home system. Next, go to
          the global scope and have a look at where you are in the
          universe (this is important as your position will determine
          as a whole your further strategy). Other things you may
          consider doing: naming your governor, perhaps changing your
          password, appointing a second governor (more for your
          convenience than anything). I would also (if you are willing
          to, that is) place your email address in your "personal" this
          helps when you "run" into other races. It makes the politics
          much simpler. However in a HAP game this is regarded as a BIG
          nono. Next, I would think about the possible access to a
          postscript printer. If you have access to one, then I
          strongly suggest that you pipe a copy of the stars list to a
          log file, then generate a stars map (the program to do this
          is available all over the place. Then I would just wait.

  Tao -
          Not much that you need to do. Talk to others and ask stupid
          questions... They'll help you. I usually unload people from
          my government center and spread them out.

  Empire -
          Use command: help and if theres still something unclear use
          broadcast and ask it from other players, theres always
          experienced players around. Unload people from your @ so you
          can start to populate more quickly.

  Link Baker -
          View the maps of your home planet, system, and your location
          in the universe. Unload @ and spread the people around. Find
          out how close neighboring systems are, which one's you want
          to explore 1st. Unload all but one crew from your @ so you
          still get some AP's. Spread 'em around. Load it back up after
          the 1st update. You should have plenty of pop unless you have
          a really shitty birthrate. Get that planet covered A.S.A.P.

  Greenies -
          Get all but one of your people out of the Gov Center, and do
          spread them around it. Look to see where in the universe you
          are, just for curiosity.

  Zurgithian -
          As a meta with 1 sex you can take 6 sectors on the first
          move, unload 8 crew from the @ and move 5 pop 1 sector in
          different directions. Load up the @ again after the first
          update. No tax yet, but have mobility at 25 or so after the
          first update.