It does depend very much on the -f in question. -f IS can get away with almost anything because of their orgy overpop

and if your -f is faster in economy as well as military (20% growth, bigger breeders, maybe faster ships), you'll be able to grab a bigger slice of the pie, and with wider hab and instant greenlines you can compete effectively.

Tenderfoot, a game with 9 players in a medium dense, was won by a -f SS who used that space to outgrow everyone.

The lack of AccBBS, on the other hand, and the requirement of weapons expensive, *is* a fatal blow to -f. You need factory compounding in those ~10 years of homeworld growth, and those cheap techs mean a lot less if you still have to crunch expensive weapons before you can attack.