[Tenryu]

jp,
I really don't know if there is any 'one' best thing. Probably depends somewhat on what you are playing, low tech or high tech and what Mods or changes you have made to your files.

I always play low tech start, 5k racial points, 30k resources, high computer difficulty, large number of computer player, large quad. I usually pick a few of the special computer empires, EA and sergrtti always, except for the darloks{they drive me nuts!, if I get them as a random, I weep and hope I don't meet them too soon, when I do meet them, I spend all my efforts focused on wiping the little buggers out. God, I hate them!

At the start I usually research in the following order. It seems to provide a solid base for a build up and sufficent defensive technology to survive and expand.
missles>2, duc>2, ships>2, propulsion>2, duc>3, ships>3, {if no pd at start, then milsci>1 and pd>1}, propulsion>3, physics>1, shields>1, shields>2, construction>1, fighters>1, smaller weaps>1, smaller weaps>2, ships>4.

I vary some depending on what is going on, how soon I am getting whomped on, instead of fighters, sometimes i go for mines and the warheads. This seems to get me going ok. 1.27 was way nastier then previous Versions. I expect the cloaking changes to make the darlocks an even a more hated pest. Only additional races I use are sergetti, narn, darlock, toron and ea. I may add some others though, but was really hoping the AI main modders,{tampa, meph, GE, sinapus}would eventually find the time to jazz-up the existing ones a bit more.

And just so you don't feel like you're the only one, I got my butt chewed up in a squeeze play over the weekend by the ea, sergetti, and xichung. I wiped out the Xi, but the others got me. Bastards!