how to perform 'not so bad' as the eridani (alex pung) empire

prerequisite:
eclipse + expansion
both action/discs researches available in the beginning
development giving you mineral
having peaceful and carry races besides you
(optional)development giving you science
(optional)last pick, besure someone dun pick military races and make sure who your neighbours are
(optional)last pick with double hulls
(optional)+2 computer would be great, for low science instead of +3
(optional)nonexistance of orion would be great
(optional)existance of hydrans and planta. less ring 2 ring 1 competition
(optional)small player count

explore ring 1
=> have ancients -> burn
=> no ancients -> buy 2 dreadnoughts in ring 1, turn 1 GCD

if you are in a competition, hate your opponent or desperate to win no matter what, hunting down your simcity neighbor is always better.

get the mining development
=> get 2 dreadnoughts with plasma cannon and phase shield upgrade

get the space station
=> upgrades, all to dreadnoughts. low material strategy is possible, just make sure your pair of ships never die.

dreadnoughts are incredibly vulnerable to missiles because eridani is short of actions to build double hulls and shields. becareful and stay away from missiles+computer combos

this is the core. execute the hit and run strategy VERY WELL.
=>whenever someone attempts to take your territory, let them do it unless you have the spare action and materials to defend it.
=>be extremely relaxed to let someone taking your territory. you do not have much disc to hold up rubbish, particularly those which only have 2 cube spaces. they are very inefficient late game anyway. letting someone taking your lousy land is one round of free action, not a loss. you do even have the money holding you away from intentional bankruptcy..
=>plan the best route to hunt ancients and the GCDS. your main source of vps would be the discovery tiles and reputation.
=>it also means that it is a extreme plus to base trade with planta or terran.

if you play eridani, YOU WILL NOT WIN unless the opponent are playing extreme lousy and/or bad luck. remember you will have 2-5 disc inexcusable disadvantage but 30-40 points is definitely possible. 40-50 is luck, which is a lot better than vanilla already. and a lot more fun.

but still challenging.

and unless the group is a mega dumb fuck a winning streak is very impossible.