I would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different start-up techniques with the final goal of playing a techer. I would like advice on which is best mathematically. The ones I'm aware of:
*Cash
*Indy
*Food

__Cash__
Pros: Allows you to keep expenses low and play your turns mostly independent of the market (you will probably still want to buy bushels vs building farms unless there is an issue with food on the public market). Good start for Express where you can store up a bunch of turns and play through your starting phase with little or no defense as long as you play quickly. Cash also does not decay like food and does not consume resource like military. It's also very easy to play: just build ent/res, CS, and don't run out of food. Several teching gov't also have bonuses that increase the effectiveness of this strat.
Cons: You could be vulnerable during this phase since you have to buy your military from the market. High market prices or low supply could leave you with little defense. Although ideally you would have a low amount of land so you would not be an attractive target anyway. Maximum effectiveness of this start requires changing the tech rate nearly every turn.

__Indy__
Pros: Gives you a strong military right out of the gate. Could allow to you take advantage of early LGs that will save you turns exploring.
Cons: Units consume resources--money and food. You're dependent on the market for cash to play your turns. If your goods don't sell, you're screwed pretty bad. Unit prices on the public market can be low at the beginning of the game if supply > demand. You can't just store up a bunch of turns and power through them like with the cash start because you have to stop to sell unit occasionally. Also, selling units uses turns. This start takes more skill than a cash start. Teching gov'ts do not have bonuses for industrial production.

__Food__
Pros: Food can be sold on the private market by gov't types other than theo for nearly the same price as the public market so it can be played independently of the public market. High public market food prices can increase the effectiveness of this strat. You also never have to worry about running out of food :)
Cons: Food decays so you should sell bushels after every turn for max effectiveness which is a PITA. Selling food on the public market uses turns. Teching gov'ts do not have bonuses for food production.

My suspicions of which start-ups are best:
H tech: H cash start
R tech: R cash start
D tech: D ??? start
T tech: M ??? start
C tech: C indy start (does anyone actually run a C tech?!?)

An important factor to consider is what server you are on --> how much defense you need before you start making $$$.

at alliances allowed server need it alot depending size of alliance.

I'm currently a solo player so my questions and thinking are solely from that perspective. So on Primary, Tourney, and Express, I think cash starts are best for H and R techers. I don't know which starts are best for D or T techers and would appreciate advice from the experts.

In solo servers I would be inclined to go indy from the aspect of not falling behind. I have found tech starts to be effective in solo servers (at least as a demo).

When you say a tech start, do you mean building only CS and labs right off the bat? Can you explain more?

I always just do something like:
1) Build ent/res, farms, or ICs and CS until desired BPT is reached. Total acres should be around 2k.
2) Mass explore to about 3k acres.
3) Build labs on empty acres until land is full.
4) Tear down existing buildings and convert to labs one turn at a time.
5) Start teching when conversion to all labs (+a few ICs for spies) is complete.

As in I will make like 150-250 farms total and be building labs by the time I am out of protection.

That is something I might do in a team server where I don't need to worry about strong defense as much as I do in solo.

Rep/Techer -> Tyr/Farmer = great war build for later wars. Sucks if you get hit earlier than you expect though.

Mono/techer is pretty viable as well, although for what you'll lose in bonuses you might as well just go Theo, stay small, and convert later. Mono just saves you the conversion losses

with the new tech points, it may be better to do a "mini" tech phase for a farmer or casher.

I'm gonna find out this set :-)

What exactly do you mean by "mini" tech phase? How many acres/points? Which game type are we talking about?

I have played a techer for quite some time and have done quite well in Express, Tourney (many years back with many players) & also in the old Standard.

I have tried many different starts, and am convinced that an Indy start is the best for a Theo/Demo techer. The reasons are:

1) As a techer, efficiency is key. Having a strong military at the start enable nice juicy landgrabs with minimum amount of jets as there will be many landfat low defence countries around.

2) You need a good spy count to be able to identify good landgrab opportunities.

3) You won't get landgrabbed early on as you will be quite solid defensively early on.

4) At every point in the set, you will have a good networth to land ratio.

successful teching relies on a few perspectives

namely:

What's your teching objective? is it for optimizing your chosen current set strat?

strat as a farmer > scale up your BUSINESS, POPULATION and AGRI tech levels

strat as an oiler > scale up your BUSINESS, INDY tech levels

strat for warring > scale up your WARFARE, WEAPONS, SPY, MILITARY and MEDICAL tech levels

What the heck are you talking about?

warring needs agritech too since w/o it player won't get money that quickly and maybe busi and resi too.

A tech start example
40 cs
300 farm
60 cs
Explore/build labs
@1600 acres tech agri
tech 40k agri tech
Converted to farmer before turn 400
*numbers are not right but thats the basic idea

I like demo-techer. Somethings amiss with your pro's and cons. I just can't quite...

That's usually what I play.

haven't played this game in 10 years ;)

thanx