Research Military or civilian first?

The answer is..... YES!

If you are far away from your enemies, probably civilian...unless there are deserts and terrans near you to colonize, then military.

If you are close to the enemy players, going civilian first could get you killed, which can put you in a real bind if there is nothing else to colonize with out civic techs.

unless your TEC in which case your likely to be wiped out anyway.

I always build a civic research station first and maybe another if there are volcanos and ice planets nearby before building a military. I play TEC though so it may be different for other factions.

It's usualy based on the situation for me,

No matter what I almost allways wind up starting next to volcanic or ice worlds as my neighbors. So I'm almost allways going down the civilian tree to pick up the colonize first. I then go for the ships and orbital defense next. Then I usualy pick up the mid and higher tiers out of all the other trees at about the same time.

As for telling you which tree to get first,

Well I say base it on what your needs are, not really much I can say other than that.

It depends on what race you are playing and the size od the map. (Small to Medium sized maps) TEC I would build a military and a civic station just to give you the basic defence and start your economy on the right foot. The first one out of the two would be the civic because early in the game there are minimal military forces and this gives you time to build up your economy, the second station should be the military one due to the hangar defense and repair platforms, that is because real soon your enemy will attack you because your TEC so try to defend your front planets first and then move back to your farthest. Also the very first thing when the game starts to build is the cap ship factory build it no matter what race you are, take advantage of the free cap ship and then scuttle the factory because you are not going to use it any time soon. Advent i would build military stations first just to beef up your fleet and also to get the hangar defense which is vital for the advent because their defense is important in the beginning. Vasari I would say military first and then two civic ones, the military first because you can get LRF's with just one station and then move on to dominate the enemy, what is so good about Vasari economy is that the metaland chrystal upbgrades are one so you get two for the price of one, and economy is really good for these guys because their stuff is very expensive. Hope this helps.

(Large to Huge sized maps) Tec I suggest first two civic because there are a lot of planets so you don't have to worry about a rush just get 20 planets 30 max and settle down, the main goal of TEC in huge maps is to explode onto the map and limit the room your enemy has to move around, don't forget though that the front planets have to be totally and tightly defended as in a shit load of turrets, hangar defenses and repair bays, also the tactical logistics maxed out.

Advent on these types of maps I would reccomend builing civic stations to get those rich metal and crystal planets early, and again the front line and choke pint planets have to be extremely deffended, advent hangar defense is really good at that job but is not a priority early in the game. It is also wise to research the culture spreding station to again constrict enemy colonizing options, because if your culture is too high at a uncolinized planet then the enemy will still not be able to colonize the planet. But keep these brodcast stations very well defended because soon they will be attacked.

Vasari go for civics all the way and get Returning Armada which will give you an unlimited supply of free ships which can prove very valuable in harrasing enemy fleets. Although ou will also need the planets to give you a steady income research the nessesary upgrades for that. Although the Returning Armada s very nice throw in some military stations and research some offensive and mostly deffensive structures and units. Hope this helps.  

I may not be the most expert player in the world but, I put reserch stations in pairs. One from each tree. But I usually play on large maps.

... for the sake of finding all the artifacts.

Returning Armada isnt free anymore. It costs money and resources to use.

Really. Must have made a new patch I didn't hear about.

Sins of a Solar Empire version 1.1

Returning Armada:

• Now costs 2500 credits, 200 Metal, 500 Crystal to activate.
• Fleet sizes summoned increased from 25-45 to 45-90 supply.
• Cooldown increased to 10 minutes at all levels.
• Phase Stabilizers now have 0 max antimatter.

Bummer

Yeah, real bummer the game isn't auto-lose for anyone who isn't Vasarri in games that last longer than an hour.

I do see the point and I understand how this balances it out. Oh well it is still a good strategie if you have other players supplying you with resources and credits.

Make no mistake, RA is still a powerful technology...you just need some econ to pay for it.

True That

If TEC, just enough military bases to research tech to hold the line until you've maxed out your civilian Tech tree. If you play it right on a large map you can pickup a vast amount of planets and while building a frontier of tank worlds build a strong economy throughout your inner worlds.

Giving you the advantage of the most powerful economy, given your not playing against other TEC players.