I think, that no one understands, what you are asking. Is it easyer to find things in the to find certain techs, as they are in thee own subsystem? or is it something else.

I have also just started playing and as everyone knows the manual with game is sort of limited in detail on various aspects. What I'm doing is creating a spreadsheet of this area because it will help me in a quick glance as to how many of military labs for instance one would need for a particular item/capability desired. I've finished the TEC Military and hope to map the entire resource trees but it's time consuming. Also, if I ever complete this I'll have to preface things in explaining how numbers are derived since you can set the game for various speeds. Presently I'm just doing it in "normal" but more importantly it's just to help me find my why in not wasting $$$ when researching. Except for the time consuming part I'm not doing anything but plagarizing what is being said in the game in spreadsheet layout. Once I complete this I'll be happy to share it with the forum if anyone is interested.

He seems to be referring to a subsection of the military research screen. While research amounts are small individually, usually a 5% bonus per level, they do indeed add up as you progress through the game. Even limiting yourself to level 1 hull and armor bonuses gives you a bonus that gets better and better as you build more ships. Research at the lower levels is useful when a game gets going and you have income rates that allow you to recoup resources spent on research in a minute or two. Don't spam research though, its best to have more ships first.

Yes sorry I should have been clearer. (  Like I said I am pretty new so I am just getting into it. I was indeed referring to the sub branch of the military tree for TEC entitled “Structural Subsystems”. The other two under that tab are “Ballistics and Rocketry” and “Experimental Design”. I have not played any of the other races so I don’t know if they are the same are not.

Thanks for the heads-up about the above. I wondered if researching into that to early was the right thing to do vs. build ships. Though I took to heart, stated above, that at the beginning of a game it can be a bargain as well. As I said I have not played the others races but I get the impression from other posts that the TEC is good at making big fleets. I read one guy who said you should “spam” ships as TEC. I don’t know if that is canon or not but that is the kind of thing I read.

Thanks, just wanted some insight.