I have had mixed luck with mixed weapons/dfenses. I once had researched far enough up both weapons and defenses that I built (on a large hull) a ship that could utilize all three defenses and all three weapon types. Haven't been able to do it again, since, though. A fleet of those babies could clean up, though!
I do not usually follow a "standard" research path. What and how I research depends on what races I am facing and what I can pick up through trading. I usually play a custom race and I have Xeno Researcg and Stellar Cartography as starting techs. The first tech I actively research is usually sensors. I generally start a game by building a couple of Scouts. Once I have Sensors, I can upgrade the scouts to a "Surveyor" class I designed, which are able to explore anomalies. I will then w