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I did have some other Stellaris players tell me always turn off AI advanced starts because they always "magically" progressed ahead of you. I am guessing this is a "feature" of the game to make it "challenging"? I have my difficulty set to Ensign I believe. I have it turned down while I learn all the aspects of the game better.
Hard to tell what you're doing wrong, but if you're having trouble on that difficulty, some of the beginner guides you can find on youtube should help you a lot. Montu Plays has one that's nearly up to date from 3.0 and very dense on good information.
In Stellaris, past the Ensign difficulty, they get bonuses to a bunch of stuff, and the bonuses increase with the difficulty. At Ensign, however, neither the human players nor the AI empires get bonuses.
As for the advanced starts, like the name suggests, the AI will literally have an advanced start. In-game, I'm assuming it's justified by saying they got FTL tech before you did.
I think the easiest way to play to game isn't a machine faction but a very-affable Xenophile nation without particular leaning for spiritual or materialistic values so that you don't offend anyone. With enough trade and allies, you can coast through many difficult times. (be like Kitten, if you know the reference)
In this game you have to press buttons :D
Also keep in mind that if you're playing a science heavy strategy, it's pretty normal to be out-performed in terms of fleet. Until you actually switch to heavy Alloy production and build heavily advanced fleets, you can expect the AIs to have relatively competitive scores in that regard since it always overbuilds fleets, even when it has nothing to do with them.
If you're significantly ahead in science, things aren't looking all that bad.
Instead of focusing on planets first, try to grab as much real estate (ie. systems) and then send out colonists. I see sometimes people discuss about tall vs wide builds, but in reality, you have to grab as much real estates as you can either way.
I usually build 4~6 science ships at the start (unless there is a immediate threat nearby) and expand like tentacles, all the way out to a choke point so that others cannot expand towards me. Then I build up. Lots of resources come from systems, relying mostly on planets has its limits.
I'm not sure if specialising planets is a good thing, although not sure how others play, but I don't do that. Every planet does a bit of everything, maybe a bit more of something. It works fine for me and even if I lose a system to crisis, I don't get sunk in one resource.
I usually start by surveying in as many directions as possible and not bothering with "dead ends" or most anomalies. If an anomaly's time is green, I might waste time with it.
I put outposts as I survey outward, prioritizing the shortest paths to choke points (again, ignoring "dead ends"), to discourage the AI from claiming those systems, which I then claim myself once I've expanded as far as possible.
I prioritize mineral production at the start, since minerals are essential for building.
Once I've expanded as wide as I can, I "go back" to survey other planets, prioritizing the ones closest to the AI empires' borders (again, to discourage them from claiming those, because occasionally they'll claim systems that are close enough to their borders).
I also build starbases on choke points as close to the AI borders as possible, in case someone tries to declare war on me (note that I have not built many ships at this point - if any), and build one missile battery and one gun battery. If I've already researched the hangar bay tech, I build two of those instead. Envoys are essential to keep AI off my ass, if it's a particularly aggressive empire.
Usually, at this point, I have about 3-4 construction ships to help pick up the slack and 3-4 science vessels to continue surveying "inward". Some construction ships build mining stations (not research ones; I prioritize resource output at the start), some expand.
Once all the territory has been surveyed, I focus on anomalies, digging sites, special projects, and research stations. After that, creating and optimizing trade routes.
I should also note, however, that I created nearly 30 empires by now, so I know who I'm dealing when I see their portraits and know when to prioritize defenses and ships and when an armored starbase is enough.
Specialization very much is a good thing. If you don't specialize because you fear that losing one of your core planets may break your neck, then you're essentially creating the problem you're afraid of. Specialized planets are SO much more productive that you can probably entirely avoid that crisis that would otherwise have caused havoc.
Any crisis that can cause you trouble if you're specializing, is almost certainly a crisis that would have wiped you out if you had not specialized.
The AI only cheats on captain and above. They are really good at the start to just about 100 years in. Then they fall flat on face, and stagnate.
In my current game (Captain) I pretty much stayed even with the other AI until I hit that 80 or so years where my choices and tech started out pacing them. By 130 years they were all much lower than me other than the 2 FE.