i've been playing CIV since number II, but i've never played this, any tips? do i just expand and make tech like civ?

It's a lot like Civilization II, and it's probably best to treat it as an expansion of that (it helps that the two games are based off the same engine).

I recommend just picking it up and playing it, it's far easier to get into it that way then just asking people for loads of help. Heck, the developers even said so in the instruction manual that came with my Planetary Pack!

After you have played a couple of games, you might want to look at the articles in the SMAC Academy. Those articles discuss some of the techniques that make SMAC different from the other Civ games.

Think close to Civ 2. So city sprawling is a worthy goal, although PLANET's wild life can help slow it down if you don't defend well.

Terraforming is of course required but don't aggressively try to do it in every square, unless you are prepared for possible wild life fury.

And use crawlers to farm resources!

In civ games the barbarians ceased to be a concern pretty quickly. In AC though, the wildlife can still be an issue fairly late in the game. Also, if you kill mindworms on the offensive you get some energy for your trouble, which can be really useful early on.

Very similar to civ: each citizen requires 2 food to survive, so if a square makes 2 food then the worker there is supporting himself. Forest + Treefarm produces 2 food, 2 mineral, and 1 energy. Not a bad way to spend a square.