[brianeyci]

Oh, and what someone said above -- there is a lot less depth than you think. Sure there is a lot of technology to research. But if you want to win, there are certain things you never research and certain things you always research. For example, never ever research missiles unless you are confident your empire can produce enough ships to overwhelm your opponent's PD. It is usually always a good idea to get DUC up to III at least, and maybe V, and PD up to III. It is always a good idea to research certain theoretical sciences early.

Construction => Fighters, Mines, Troops
Physics => Shields
Physics II => PPB's (skips shields, an easy weapon to be effective)
Chemistry => Armors
Military Science => Combat Sensors, Torpedoes
Military Science II => Fleet Training, Hyper-Optic sensors

Mines help you out a lot early on, but only very early on. Avoid researching useless stuff like Tachyon sensors. Don't keep a lot of ships that do nothing lying around, the maintainence will kill you. Lastly good luck.

Brian