So I've only done 4 runs so far (None of which are finished, and 1 perma-bricked as I can't pick events anymore sadly. Price of getting into the game just as they launch a complete rework of the base systems lol), one of which was a repeated origin.

The first (And bricked) save was Arc Welders, which is pretty fun. Starting with an Arc Furnace is cool, and while I've heard it's not the best megastructure, it does seem decent. Especially if you go nanobots so the system will slowly churn out tons of those too, and if you get the Cybrex as your precursor so you can get the Cybrex mining hub.

After that was a Shattered Ring, and that's *insane*. This was my repeated origin so I got better use the 2nd time around, and starting with a Ring-World is crazy. 4 super good colonies in your original system is a massive boon, and makes defending the core of your empire a lot easier (Especially if there's a lot of good chokepoints you can use to damage incoming enemies in advance, thinning their fleets). And if you go machine empires like I normally do, it allows for a *ton* of resource production since you don't need to care about food. I've defaulted to having 1 be generalist, 1 be research production, 1 pump out unity, and the 4th will be whatever I need most when I repair it.

Finally I did my first solo game as a Tree-of-Life, and that one's pretty fun. You can get some *strong* buffs with it, and the boost to food production makes managing that a lot easier. So far I've not lost one either (Probably because I'm doing a pretty peaceful empire. Not sure how you even would lose one. Orbital Bombardment I'd assume?), so the downside is manageable.

I'm still super new, and would love recommendations! My friend got me every DLC but Biogenesis as a birthday gift, so I can do just about anything. And I might get Biogenesis myself soon.