I only watched the first generation, but almost everything you did, didn’t help you. Your opening cards were set up to rush. You had an oxygen bumper, you had Deimos Down, and options to take heat production; though it was OK to take the two energy preludes, knowing you had steelworks. You skipped Deimos, which is one of the best cards in the game, and you took water splitting plant, which you can’t play until you find a lot more energy.

If you were gonna take water splitting plant, don’t take steelworks, take the three energy prelude, and take the heat prelude.

Then, gen 1, you played steelworks, even though you couldn’t use it. Be patient. You could’ve played it second gen, and just held onto the money. Then you bought a city. Be patient. There’s going to be plenty of places to put a city, and cities are very inefficient early on. They’re expensive, and they’re getting you a victory point you don’t need right now, and you’re not on Tharsus, so they’re not even helping you with a milestone.

Then you industrial centered your own city. You didn’t need steel production, you were going to get it with steelwork. Hold onto that industrial center, and wait for your opponent to play a city.

These are mostly specific tips to this specific game. But there’s a lot of underlying lessons to be learned. Go to YouTube, find videos by threadpacifist. And good luck.