I really enjoyed the stream so far. He starts his conventional start a bit differently than I do. I am okay with running around with survey ships with conventional engines while converting to TN industry, because, first off, I can do it with my starting shipyard. Second, yes, the survey ships are slow, but for the low investment of 50 RP for the conventional commercial engine for the survey ships, and a size 3 engine for a survey team shuttle, and the 1500 for Geosurvey, you can get an enormous amount of stuff surveyed by the time your economy is to the point that you WANT colonies.
Also, if you survey the moon and mars and discover that neither of them are worth colonizing, then you may as well not bother with the techs needed to colonize for some time, putting them into mining or construction or research techs.
For beginners, starting with a few extra research labs is nice, starting with extra military academy allows you to build up your scientists and survey teams while you focus on your economy.
I built my first survey ships once I had duranium armor. That was basically the difference between 43 km/s and 52 km/s. Having upgraded by initial Shipyard to 3 size 2200 ton slips by 2030, by 2034 I have surveyed everything out to Saturn's orbit. And found bupkis.
But micromanaging survey teams was not what he wanted to showcase in the video.
Some good tips: Make sure you have some tech in queue, especially for the scientist teams that have a lot of research labs, so you don't waste lab time when the tech finishes.