[primitive]

Originally posted by Karibu:

Minefield is good too. I always put some mines on orbit of every planet. But you don't get minefields very quickly and it has no offensive purpose os it is not the first one to research.

Mines should always be first (or very very early) in the research queue. There is no better early offensive weapon than the mine. A lone transport with supplies and a few minelayers can effectively seal of several systems. When you have got a few ships with the mines, most players will withdraw to safe space until they can sweep a full field. Which is expensive early with only small ships and low level sweepers.