TEC in multiplayer beginning-mid game

So I've played about a dozen and a half games by now, having beaten various hard AIs with all three races, and have decided to focus primarily on completely mastering TEC, particularly in the multiplayer arena. I usually try and expand early, followed by economic turtling. I'm just curious - how early do experienced TEC players usually colonize their first, second, or third planets (beyond their homeworld, obviously)? Generally, I'll expand as soon as I reliably can, upgrade the infrastructure, and hopefully stack a few trade ports on a 3, or occasionally 4 length route.

Oh, on an unrelated note, do most of you buy crystal as soon as a game starts? I've found that it is almost always my limiting resource, whether I'm trying to LRM rush, expand quickly, or tech rush, so I've started buying 100 or 200 crystal as my very first moves in a game.
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Reply #1 Top
Well Friend with TEC if you move quickly enough you should have 3 planets and 3 trades centers up relative in the first 10 minutes maybe more. TEC are not the Lasari but they are damn good colonizers and economist if you do it right. My opinion is that the TEC are very good at turtling and researching. however the advent will most likely destroy you if you don't cripple a player using them fast. the Seeker Remote bombs are pretty good for doing this. 2 or 3 could wreck a frigate factory or have a couple of seekers take out the resources on one of your opponents planets. downside is the cool down time is 900. 10 seekers with this ability early in the game is pretty devastating.

At the begining most TEC players Including me buy 200 or 300 gold and build 2 civic centers to get trades ports as soon as they can. After that its usually military, heavy cruisers being the main stay supported by Lrms and carriers with a few repair units.
Reply #2 Top
There's a problem with that fleet composition though, lrms and carriers are both countered by flak frigates and their equivalents. Your 2 ship fleet can be countered by 1 type of ship!
Reply #3 Top
Ok, thanks for the advice.. how far up the military tree are the remote bombs? I'd check, but I'm at work at the moment..