most of the time im conquered by tick 250 because of a bad tactical mistake, and taking too many risks.

but what i do is,
tick 1: food lv. 1and2
metal 1,2,and 3
oil, 1,2,3
barracks
energy lv.1
radar lv. 1

tick:2 food lv 3,4
metal 3,4
oil 4,5
lasers (lv 2 barracks)

well i am actually gonna make a colony in a few eras and test this and get back to you guys.

my normal build (non resource only wise cuse i don't do that) is:

farm lvl 3
gold lvl 3
wood lvl 2
barracks
+ 11 men

this gets you your 15 power right off the start in an era on tick 1.

I will get back to you after testing for the resource only build.