I'm a newbie player that's managed to get through about 3 or 4 games at very easy settings, but more to experiment then anything else. What have folks found to be good starting suggestions for getting out the gate quickly. Obviously, I want to take as many good yellow stars as possible but after that I'm rather stuck on what way to go. Should I be trying for some basic techs to extend starship range or should I worry about industry? Is it better to go military or social first? Etc etc.
It really depends on your favoured style. If you are a builder, you would want a balanced approach at that stage by getting up some military (to stave off friendly visits for donations), your basic industry (go with PQ enhancers and zero maintenance ones first) and also cheap but very useful techs (trade comes to mind).
If you are more a warmonger, just follow what the Drengins do and rush ship tech and go on a rampage. U would still need some good industrial muscle to churn out those warships so don't forget those.
There are a couple of good threads on starting plays with some even giving step by step recommendations so do check those out.