[rdouglass]

I personally tend to research heavily in defense (shields, armor, PDC) and towards PPB until I meet my first opponent. I found that PPB's can hold there own against just about anything in early games; most empires haven't made it to phased shields yet and I always play low-tech start games.

Then my research / weapon of choice frequently changes based on what my opponent is using, racial techs, fighters or not, missles or not, etc.