[h1]2. Quick Start Guide[/h1]

A few tips how to start out at normal (4) difficulty, without extra rules on the default "Enlightened ruler" scenario.

Overall, the challenge is the internal politics within the Empire, finances and industry. If those are handled properly, and you are not too aggressive, aliens should pose no major threat at this point. 


[b]It's recommended to start with those during the first turns:[/b]

a) The Imperial Court & Ministers
The first action should be to review your courtiers and ministers. Try to get rid of the Corrupted ones, promote competent, loyal and charismatic and so on. It might be tricky. Note that Emperor focus points needed to make those court arrangements are generated upon each audience. Administrative points are generated each turn (having highly competent courtiers at high places helps).

b) Control finances
Check the Finances/Tax tab. Money could be tight. Consider rising taxes if needed, but before that take a look at Corruption. If it's too high, you might consider firing some corrupted officials (especially if they are ministers or advisors!). Check competence of the minister of Treasury (extra income) and minister of Justice (corruption reduction), sometimes the solution to financial problems would be to replace those with your best people.
Make sure to check finances as your Empire grows (especially bureaucracy upkeep which can be a major threat long term).

c) Noble Houses
At the beginning it might look good, but soon they will start to cause problems. It's probably easiest (but there are other viable approaches) to decided that 1-2 houses will be your enemies and that you will not care about relations with them and that you will attempt to reduce their authority and decide on some especially friendly houses who you wish to befriend and strengthen. This of course can change later based on events. Overall, you want those friendly to be strong and with high court presence and those hostile marginalized. That being said, it's best to not let relations deteriorate to Hostile, since such houses cause extra trouble.

d) Military
Military is pretty straightforward and can be left on default in most cases. After each audience or every two audiences go to Military/squadrons and design (adjust) a new squadron (always using maximum tonnage capacity, some technologies will allow you to extend max tonnage). Note that imperial shipyards always manufacture only the last designed squadron. After that those will be auto manufactured, distributed to fleets, border guard, etc. You also should construct some starbases to have a decent tactical bonus.
If needed you can move some fleets (Military/Fleets) to another border, but the initial setup of fleets should be sufficient for the starting situation.

e) Technologies
Technologies are straightforward as well, there are 5 fields of science, each has 12 tiers of technologies, to unlock a new tier you need to have at least one technology of the lower tier. The recommended approach is to try to reach tier 12 as soon as possible, omitting extra technologies of the lower tiers, but the strategic situation might dictate another approach. Note that technologies are semi randomized and their order can differ each playthrough.

f) Industry
Go to Industry tab and check your minerals' availability, if it's too low consider investing in Minerals refineries (investment) or get technologies which boost refining technology. You can also try to grab mineral rich planets.
Same for food production.

g) Rebellion
Probably, you won't be able to avoid at least one rebellion in your first play through. You can slow down rebel preparations by selecting anti-rebel events options, keeping loyal couriers, competent Internal Affairs Minister and by maintaining good relations with noble houses. Before the rebellion breaks out, you can prepare by stockpiling extra money, investing in Spec-ops laws and technologies and building a solid buffer of Stability (prolonged rebellion will damage your Stability).
Overall, each rebellion is guaranteed to be crushed, the question being if you ran out of Stability before it happens (letting Stability fall to 0 is an instant game over).

h) Other tips
As the Empire grows, assure proper communication coverage and military bases coverage. Try to prioritize Centralization and Stability since those are the key assets long term. Do not sweat over if you don't get all the minor mechanics at first, at the normal difficulty it's perfectly possible to win the game while neglecting some areas (most work decently at the default settings), as long as you maintain and control the big picture from the heights of the imperial throne.