This past SuperBowl should have been titled the "Super Beatdown." A pitiful performance by peyton and a boring game overall. I feel sorry for the people that paid thousands of dollars in tickets to see the "game."
I also do a heavy cs start, sell my 100 troops, and typically build farms if going to be a farmer, labs for teching, etc. It depends on your playstyle, but have a high bpt is always helpful.
Yeah exploring is good till around the 19 acre per turn mark, then it becomes more beneficial to landgrab because you will not only get more acres, but population as well which will increase money per turn which you can then use to fill up those empty acres.