It actually depends on what you're aiming for.  If you want to beat the game as quikly as possible without losing any resources, the easiest way is to build the creators accademy and then level it to 3.  Once you do that, sit around and tap the advanced courses option every chance you get to increase energy production by 10 if memory serves me correct.  Alternatively, if you get the capital metropolis early on you can leave creator's accademy at level 1 and level capital instead, which will allow you to do the same thing a bit faster.  If you can get both the Capital Metropolis and the artician town when starting out, leave capital at 1 and level artician to 3 as quickly as possible, as this will give you the option to increase your energy and follower production by 50k every time you tap on it.
The trick here is to not level anything so that your world reaches 5 percent progress, because that's the trigger which brings Peter in for the kill.  Build up your stores of energy to at least a million or something you feel exceptionally comfortable with, then add on and level whatever you're adding.  Energy is the one thing that drives pretty much every aspect of what you do on nano, because with it you level, create, and even use a plethra of other abilities such as building fleets with the spaceport, using defensive beams with the crystal fortress and training engineers at the shield complex, and even making more energy such as you do with the reactors found in the lightning vortex.
But there are plenty of strategies, from being the first to attack on the campaign road, to simply using your followers to do your dirty work and you reaping the reward.  Playwith whatever suits you, but keep the above in mind.