Setting up a new colony

I have found one key point that has worked really well for me when I select a spot for setting up a colony:

choose a spot that is some distance away from my homeworld (9 systems for me) in a system that has a lot of inactive planets. one disadvantage to this is that it takes longer to transport from one planet to the other but you are able to make those "safe raids" more quickly without having to go out of your system. having your planets spaced out also extends your reach with your ships. When you get stong enough and are considering taking on an active planet, it will give the owner less notice that you are coming. I tend to fleetsave between my two planets, transporting resrouces to my homeplanet (which is heavily fortified). spacing them out and slowing down my ships means that I can be gone for over 24 hours without having to worry. from my home planet, I send my fleet on a recycle mission loaded up, the ships are safe and I dont have to remember to return them before they get to their destination, and I com back with a little extra .

anyways, just wanted to get my strategy out there in case anyone needed some ideas. anyone have anything else that works for them?