[Alneyan]

A few addenda to your message Atrocities:

- Emergency Build is eleven turns long when left to run, not ten. You will only need ten turns to recover though (if memory serves). Yes, I am nitpicking.
- Construction is probably one of the most important areas in the early game. It gives you Mines early on , and Fighters if you need mobile defence and a versatile warship (the Light Carrier can do anything somewhat well, and costs less than researching Light Cruiser).
- You shouldn't be able to empty your colonies when building colony ships; you gain one million settlers per turn per population in every colony having at least one million settlers and 1% reproduction rate. So even if your colony ship leaves only one million of your subjects on the planet, the next one will find three million settlers (assuming you need two turns to build a colony ship). Don't lower your Reproduction too much though, as otherwise you may have a 0% reproduction rate, which means you won't gain these "free" settlers.
- Industry only gives Computers; PDC is given through Military Science I, which is a very useful tech area to pursue early on (Combat Support, Point Defence at level I, and Advanced Military Science at level II, which gives in turn the cheapest sensors to detect cloaked ships (Hyper Optics) and ship/fleet training)
- Polaron Phased Beams only go to level V, and have a range of 6. They are nonetheless very useful weapons for the early game, if you have enough radioactives. It is the Anti Proton Beams (Energy Stream Weapons) that have 12 levels, and go to range 8.

And my usual advice: never, ever, overlook Stellar Manipulation. This field gives you Warp Openers, Warp Closers (choose where you fight), Planet Creators (to improve your economy), Monoliths (a good long term investment, if you can afford it) and other very nice toys later on. The ships themselves are expensive to build, but the research shouldn't take too long.