Okay, the overall consensus was for Arms Race Style play!
As such, I will continue working on populating the world you will be fighting over. If you could all be so kind as to suggest names for the Flesh and the Machines, as it seems appropriate for the hivemind/Commander to give themselves a name. I've also put up a new poll!
Meanwhile, have a mini infodump:
Turns will vary in length, but typically be in the realm of days and weeks. Once actions are submitted, the game will be processed in the background until a critical event occurs, at which point the game will stop and actions may be resubmitted. Critical events are anything that I deem to be interesting/unexpected enough that the players may want to edit their plans. This includes such things as discovering new genes/technology, the resolution of combat or running out of actions.
Most actions will be, for preference, high-level. All units and minions have a degree of intelligence and competence in their specific field, and can be trusted to act in tandem with any allies to the best of their ability. The most intelligent entity in the area will naturally take command of the more inferior entities around it and all relevant decision making will be made by them, instead of wasting time by deferring all decisions to the hivemind/commander. You will not have to worry about rebellious underlings, so make the most of intelligence upgrades when they are available.
Whilst the Hivemind and Commander are very capable of studying the remains of their opponent's forces in order to counter them more effectively, they are limited to biological or mechanical creations respectively.
The world that will become our battleground is 'Gaia'. It is actually a moon, orbiting a gas giant within the goldilocks zone of PPX-209, a main sequence star quite similar to Sol. Gaia is very small (with a circumference of 1200km), but still capable of holding a breathable atmosphere due to its unique core, a mix of molten iron and several different high density elements that cause the moon to have a magnetosphere, and a gravity of approximately 1g. The surface area is split 50/50 water to land, with a tropical belt that includes deserts and jungle, temperate grasslands & forest and frozen caps with ice sheets tundra and taiga. The moon has natives of equivalent technology to modern day earth, and a couple of outposts from an interstellar empire. The fauna and flora are typically deadly, making this moon an ideal training ground for elite survivalists and soldiers.