I useually pick Technoigist because if i have anything diffrent i useually get pummled into the ground quickly maybe someday i'll use something else =P
But my perks useually inclued
-Economy +30 or whatever it is
- Pop grow. +10 (or the highest one)
- creativeness +25 (or whatever it is)
- influence +1 (i think)
Then im heavy on the tech research for about all the way though the game while keeping my spending and taxes around 33-40%
then to colonise quickly i switch all resources to military and build a bunch of colony ships as fast as i can and send them out this will get you influence quickly
then once you've built 4 or 5 colony ships put all your resources into social and research (50% each)
and wait till you get the first two improvements done then switch everything to research for a little while then switch back to military to build more colony ships and all the while having your survey ship do what it does....survey.
Then from there i go as the events happen often switching resources between military and social and tech alot but mostly keep social and research both at 50%
i did this and got ahead of the game so quickly. Seems simple and i know im forgetting something heh.