Interstellar Dominion. It gives a big discount to the exact activity you should be pursuing at that point. It allows you to get more space and planets more quickly. That's key to the early game whether you're playing as a peaceful builder or an aggressive expander.
I don't bother with Tech Ascendancy. I reckon I can boost my tech more by expanding and getting more tech-worlds up and running more quickly. 10% is just too small and gets washed out by all the other buffs in that category. By midgame that 10% has washed out to be more like 5%. It just doesn't compare to adding even one more tech-world. This is not a bad perk but it's not as good as ID.
Executive Vigor I don't take because I'm not using edicts at this stage. I use all my influence to expand because that's the best bang for your buck, especially long term. I don't lack the resources to develop the planets I colonise so it seems like colonising more planets would be a better investment of influence.
Mastery of Nature is pretty bad in the early game since it costs influence to use and gives you no benefit until your planets start to fill up anyway. The first AP needs to be something that gives me a boost right now and this is not it.
