I tend to go labs first and 100% on research. Then once I have a couple of labs rush buy factories. (Of course I'll rush buy ships as needed also but may wait until I have better engine techs.) Once I have engine techs I want I'll move slider off 100% research.

"But I noticed the developer Draginol building research labs first instead"

Have you been stalking him, or what?

"The colony ships seem to travel automatically faster without the cost of upgrading them once you've researched faster engines. "

Whatever it is that you're smoking, keep it away from me .

"But I noticed the developer Draginol building research labs first instead" Have you been stalking him, or what?

Brad has posted game play examples in various places, which I am sure is where Sandlapper got this...

"The colony ships seem to travel automatically faster without the cost of upgrading them once you've researched faster engines. " Whatever it is that you're smoking, keep it away from me .

Yes, when you research higher levels of engine technology, you do get a speed increase on all ships - immediately - regardless of what engines they have on them. For most ships it is an extra parsec per turn.

Sephlock - is that a Klingon word? Anyway, as for speed increasing after researching engine techs: Read the descriptions for Impulse I, Warp I, and... er, whatever the highest engine tech is called's level I. Each of them states that all ship speeds will be increased by 1 when the tech is researched. If you've ever noticed that suddenly your flagship is going faster, for instance, this is why.

Waiting for Impulse Drive (the tech) and putting two Impulse Drives (the component) on your Colony Ships increases their speed by +4 total. From 2, that's a 200% jump. The Yor can get up to 8 without any Miniaturization techs...

It depends on the galaxy setting. Brad generally plays on rare planets, so he doesn't have to worry about the colonization phase, hence he will jump into researching first so that he can get a military headstart. Afterall, there's no point building empty ships. So instead, he researches weaponry and planetary invasion quick so that he can catch one of the AI while they are preparing as his means of expansion.

However, if you play a setting with abundant planets to colonize, your starting funds will never be enough to finance that kind of colonization effort. So it is essential to build factories and use a high military spending to build them in deficit instead of buying them outright. After you get your manufacturing infrastructure up and is able to pump out colony ship at a reasonable rate (2-3 factories), it becomes time to build up your economic infrastructure so that you can support your many new colonies. After you get the huge landgrab, with manufacturing and economic infrastructure in place switching to tech will be fast. You will catch up with everyone else in a month or two, long before they become a serious threat.

I usually start with two factories then two labs, research 50%, social and military 25% each. I like a balanced approach leaning slightly towards research.