Great starting stradgey write-up Enforcer.

A personal difference on Harvester collections though. I generally use small harvesters on all planets in any sector except for one "Hub" planet. I use the small harvesters to take ore from the planets in each sector and deposit it on the designated Hub planet of my choosing. I then use a Resource Harvester or greater to take all the collected ore
From the Hub and move it to a colony. From there, depending on which specialty I've
Chosen, I will either leave the Ore at the colony, or move the ore from all colonies to a single "Main Hub" Colony. If I'm playing as a Warrior, I do not build anything larger than a Resource Harvester, as the RO requirements and Research time are better spent elsewhere.