!!!!I am referring to non capital ships!!!!

Hmm...I would start with a large ship, and then upgrade whenever possible. I like to have a number of projects going on at once, often including research and new fleets. It's true that the more ships one has, the greater the effect of the research. My thoughts are: get a fleet or four, queue up the equivalent of a fleet to be built, and then get a lot of research done. Other then that, I check every so often to see if I have the credits/resources to research.


But if you are playing as the TEC, you should have the credits/resources to do both, which at the end of the day is the strategy that wins. If you are in such a desperate situation that you need to decide between research and building a fleet, it wont matter. You're screwed if your playing with someone competent in that situation.

Malice/Cleasing Briliance devastates nonupgraded large fleets

I can usually get that around the first or second major confrontation

I upgrade my fleet supply late in game so i upgrade my fleet in parts. like hull and shields is upgraded ASAP after the eco tree.

And what does levelling your cap ships have to do with this discussion?

i consider levelling cap ships an upgrade since
A) it costs money
B)time in combat to gain xp

but if i missed the point of "upgrade" meaning only research then i am sorry  

i used to be more gungho on the ship upgrades, but i have tended towards the larger fleet more recently.

that said, i have had good experience with using sheild/hull upgrades to keep ahead of the opponent after winning the first battle. i think this is a good time to go heavy on upgrades prior to teching to hcs. the opponent inevitably has to rebuild their fleet in order to keep parity, but in reality, they are building inferior ships. also, since your troops are already in the field and battling, the upgrades may not be the right pay off from a strict return on investment perspective. however, all of the ships effected are already in play and battling the opponent, making it a good tempo decisions if the circumstances are right.