Just fishing for some workable strategies. I'm playing it on 'Challenging' and I'm having trouble with the cultural route. The Torians have obscene population growth and seem capable of researching and fielding a fleet simultaneously, not to mention grabbing up on the little cultural sites.
I usually do the colony rush first, followed by a military buildup to prevent them from immediatly declaring war, but that hasn't worked.
Try and get a planet by their starting point. Then Increase research and military production. Finally get some ships and position them by their home planet to stop war. Dont know if it will work. I came up with this off of what I did.