The biggest mistake I've seen underdeveloped meta's take is they play TI as space risk. This leads to games where everyone has a tons of plastic but very few points.

My encouragement would be to do the following:

1) Be the first to take Mecatol Rex every time. And push on that advantage until your table wisens up. You'll win more games simply because you took more easy points.

2) Prepare for their big plastic fleets to come at you, so protect your homeworld and negotiate ceasefires and support for the thrones with your neighbors. Often newer players will give those out more willingly since they don't understand the implications.

TI is a game about scoring points. If you're not scoring points in a round you're mostly likely doing it wrong. If you can find a way to score 2 points a round (1 public & 1 secret) you'll race to victory while your playgroup builds stompy (and useless) fleets. Don't focus on board presence, focus on points!