Secret Firaxian faction:

Start the Faction Editor. Select "Open" and type sid. Select "Save" and save it as sid. Then, click "Add Faction". This may also be done using brian as a name.

Hex Cheats:

Using Huge Map the energy amounts are located at
the following offsets:

Akizeta Faction at offset 10,672
Svensgaard Faction at offset 19,068
Doma Faction at offset 27,464
Roze Faction at offset 35,860
Cha Fawn Faction at offset 44,256
H'minee Faction at offset 52,652
Mann Faction at offset 61,048

Hints:

If you're playing as the Pirates, nutrients and
energy are easy to come by, so make mineral production a priority at your base locations. If you bump up your energy production with Tidal Harnesses, your income will easily rival that of the wealthy Morganites.

In alien-vs.-human combat, sling around nerve gas as if it were going out of style. Because there are no interspecies atrocities, the discovery of High Energy Chemistry (which enables Nerve Gas Pods) is as significant as learning to build Needle Jets with Doctrine: Air Power.

Because the Cybernetic Consciousness steal technologies when they conquer a base, and because they don't have any significant drawbacks when playing a military game, they should be played as aggressively as the Spartans or Believers against their weaker neighbors.