What are people's usual build orders, research orders etc.?

[UhtredRagnarson]

Still fairly new so I'm curious how other people organise their first 50 or so turns in terms of research choices, cultural choices, builds etc. I read the guide here on steam and saw a couple lets plays (although it seemed the people on you tube were still getting a feel for the game too). The guide is now a bit out of date (for example you don't get +2 pop on that first colony culture).

So anyway here is my organisation order (keep in mind I haven't played above average level). I tend to fairly consistently keep these 4 orders and then after that it varies depending on universe:

culture levels-
1)astronomy culture-2 simultaneous explorations
2)cosmic knowledge-faster exploration
I choose those first because it takes a long time to explore and there's so much that gets discovered. It doesn't make sense to get colony ships etc if you don't know much about where to send them.
3) overmining- +1 production per pop
4) space fervor- 1 free colony ship etc

research-
1) Robotic factory- get started on production which seems so critical
2)Deep core mine
3)asteroid mining (free freighter which helps for #4)
4) improved logistics (longer range which helps exploration and a FREE outpost ship which at this stage of the game is huge because it takes so long to build them this early--and if possible send it to get established on a farther asteroid belt so it increases my exploration range)

home planet build order-
freighter first few turns until I get robotic factory researched then switch to
1) Robotic factory- getting production early is key for me
2) deep core mine
3) finish freighter
4) outpost ship which i use for production

Ok, feel free to critique :) What do others use?

[Prometheus]

Culture: First thing I normally go for is +2 credits per pop. Losing out on events feels bad and losing out on leader hires feels worse. Plus all that money will get put to use at some point.

After that it depends on where things landed in the trees (I play randomized, don't even remember the defaults at this point). I also aim for getting 3 in adventure and econ to get the wonders. Adventure is especially good here because the Galactic Amusement Park is the strongest wonder in the game.

Research: Also randomized for me so there is situational picks and shifting priorities based on where stuff landed. That said there are some obvious early priorities.

1. A planet settling research as usually you have to put the starter colony ship on an off biome.
2. Logistics and asteroid mining. Because you desperately need early production.
3. Robo factory because same reason as above.
4. Tungsten guns and shields II (usually the tier 3 armor type as well). Tungsten guns are infinitely better than lasers. Don't bother arguing this, its objectively true. Tungsten guns also will carry you for much of the game as they miniaturize ahead of the curve of other early weapons. Shields II is mandatory before you start making more ships. I also prefer to have better base health from upgraded materials before I start expanding my fleet.

From here randomness starts to play a role so I'll list a few high importance techs.

Offworld Support.
Planetary supercomputers.
That one that gives global 75% increase to infrastructure gains that I can't remember the name of right now.
That one that gives 25% pop growth that is named for something to do with food.
Star bases.
Battle pods.

[athelasloraiel]

Id like to BM this in steam, how do I do it?

[Mephisto]

My most effective strategy so far is stacking all the scientific and cultural wonders, empire projects and basic structures a.s.a.p in my capital. The synergy of these structures is such that it dwarves anything else I attempted in the early game, with an almost guarantee to catch up and surpass the AI players on the Culture and Science tracks, even on Impossible. Moreover, the strategy is relatively independent from your starting conditions.

Empire

• Large homeworld
  
• Rich homeworld
  
• Kaek affinity (to start with 3 Civil Infrastructure specializations)
  
• Collective Transcendance
  
• Enlightenment

I also recommend a bonus to research and production if you can afford it (in that order) as they'll make everything easier. Charismatic is very powerful i.m.o. and leads to a much more peaceful game in which you can focus on developing your empire rather than waging war. If you go the Charismatic route, consider reducing Ship Attack, Ship Defense and Ground Combat to the minimum for almost free points as they will likely be much less important.

Taxes and income allocation

In the beginning, some of your income is allocated to research and culture. You'll probably want to reduce those to 0 quickly as you will need the money to pay for building maintenance and for hiring leaders. Whenever possible, try to save money for when you activate your Collective Transcendence power, then allocate as much as you can afford to science for the 20 turns during which the passive effect is active (both bonuses are multiplicative).

Production allocation

For a given planet, always allocate 100% to a single activity, depending on what your current goal is. Don't do two things at the same time, except if you can finish one of the two in one turn with less than 100%.

Build order

Capital

1. Rush to the 6th Civil Infrastructure specialization as soon as possible, with a focus on Civil Planner first because the building maintenance cost reduction and bonus RP to economics are more important in the beginning. Unlocking all 6 perks provides also bonus construction slots, bonus building production and the flat 750 production bonus prod for your empire. We'll need all of them. Interrupt the Infrastructure development momentarily only to build the Robotic Factory and Cultural Exchange Complex when they become available. The culture boost is worth the delay and the time you loose building the Robotic Factory is quickly paid off by the bonus production it provides.
   
2. When you have all 6 Civil Infrastructure perks, the priority is first the Galactic Amusement Park and second the Galactic Relic Collection, as soon as they become available. It's important to build them a.s.a.p. before your opponents since only one kind of each wonder can exist in the game. Meanwhile (or just after): Planetary Supercomputer, Cultural Capital, Technological Capital, in any order (depends if you need more culture or more science to unlock the two Galactic wonders above).
   
3. From there on I recommend some buildings that provide morale like the Med-Bay Facility and Planetary Garrison, depending on your government. Morale further increases the insane RP and SCP your capital is already producing. Also important is a Star Base for defense as well as for all the improvements you can unlock through research, like the Civilian Quarters, Orbital Research Labs and Alien Habitat Module that boost science and culture even more.

Secondary Colony

The build order in your secondary colony doesn't matter much. Do not build too many structures in the beginning as their maintenance cost can cripple your economy, forcing you to increase taxes and thus decrease the production in your capital. Winning the wonder race is more important than developing your secondary colony. I recommend only building a Robotic Factory and then focusing on Infrastructure. Again, Civil Planner is a good pick to reduce maintenance costs and provide bonus RP to economics. As soon as you unlock the sixth Civil Infrastructure specialization in your capital, your secondary colony will benefit from the empire-wide bonus to building production. Use that to construct buildings and focus the planet's own production source to either Infrastructure or Planetary Engineering.

Nevertheless, if at some point you are lagging behind in culture or science and need a boost to win the race, consider building a Cultural Exchance Complex or Planetary Supercomputer early.

Culture

You'll want to take 1 Space Culture perk in each of the three categories quickly to unlock your Enlightenment power. Also keep in mind that the two wonders we want to build require respectively 3 Adventure and 3 Knowledge Space Culture perks. The main reason for picking the Enlightenment power is to unlock all these perks as fast as possible.
In summary (Adventure-Wealth-Knowledge):

1. 1-1-1 : unlocks Enlightenment
   
2. 3-1-1 : unlocks the Galactic Amusement Park
   
3. 3-1-3 : unlocks the Galactic Relic Collection

The reason for going Galactic Amusement Park first is twofold. First, the third Space Culture perk gives a bonus to SCP. Secondly, the Galactic Amusement Park itself gives a bonus to SCP. Both will help getting the final Space Culture perks for the Galactic Relic Collection wonder faster.

A variant where you go 2-1-0 first and unlock Enlightenment a bit later is also acceptable, maybe even better. The first Space Culture perks don't cost much, so using Enlightenment on the fourth one instead of the third one gives more bang for your buck. The downside is that you delay the next usages of Enlightenment.

The first perk I unlock is usually either Overmining (+1 production) or Space Rush (two free Outpost ships + cheaper Outpost ships). This depends on the amount of asteroid fields in your vicinity where you can establish your outposts. If in doubt, pick Overmining. If you pick Space Rush, don't forget to research Asteroid Mining. This gives you in total two free outpost ships and one freighter. Use them to setup one asteroid mining operation that you redirect to your capital and one research operation. Also keep in mind that the Improved Logistics research gives a third free outpost ship. An additional benefit of creating these outposts is that you can reach more planets, increasing the chances of finding a good spot for you first colony. Be careful however that they are vulnerable to aggressive neighbours and that you won't be able to defend them until later.

Research

1. Robotic factory. A staple. Gives you time to explore your surroundings before deciding what to research next.
   
2. Cultural Exchange Complex and potentially Asteroid Mining if you plan on taking the Space Rush Space Culture instead of Overmining. You might also want to squeeze in a colonization technology for your starting colony ship, depending on the surrounding planets.
   
3. Get to 2 cheap research per category to unlock your Collective Transcendence power a.s.a.p. This includes your starting research, so no need to research Propulsion for example since you already begin the game with 4 Propulsion research. Moreover, a level 2 research is not much more expensive than a second level 1 research in the same category, so you might want to pick a lvl 2 research instead of a lvll 1 in some cases. Med-Bay facility is a good example, if you didn't pick Asteroid Mining yet.
   
4. Now that you have Collective Transcendance, use it to focus on Economics to unlock Med-Bay Facility (if you don't have it yet), Planetary Supercomputer and finally the Galactic Amusement Park. Continue researching Economics until the 20 turns of the passive effect of Collective Transcendence wear off. You will need Cultural Capital and Technological Capital. Also pick Asteroid Mining if possible and if you don't have it yet as it will be useful sooner or later.
   
5. Plan your research so that you unlock the Galactic Relic Collection for when you are able to build it. Don't forget Star Base on your way there and Offworld Support for the free Support Ship (provided you have enough ship support points!).

Summary

When done correctly, you should have the 6 civil enhancements and the first wonder built in your capital more or less around round 50-55, which is in my experience sooner than any AI opponent, even on Impossible. The second wonder might by tricky if an AI decides to rush it. That never happened to me. The Galactic Amusement Park is for some reason the more popular choice for the AI (or it was just pure luck in my games).

So at that point you have both wonders + both empire projects + both basic structures that boost science and culture, synergizing with each other on your large and rich homeworld. Add a leader that you specialize in research and you a have a very solid early game (Kxuta Eridi is perfect with his Genius and Visonary perks). There is not much the AI can do about this strategy either, except maybe stealing the second wonder from under your nose. Unless someone rushes you with a lot of assault ships early on to capture your capital, but I've never seen an AI that is *that* aggressive.

[UhtredRagnarson]

Thanks Promethian and Mephisto for your detailed responses. I learned a lot. Anyone else?