Just starting out

1. IMO, you should always research Intelligence Services quickly, or you'll be totally undefended against spy attacks.

2. Research armor before improving weapons; armor improves much faster percentage-wise.

3. It is always useful to improve your engines. The increased supply storage is extremely helpful, as is the extra speed.

Those are the only three no-brainers on my list (and the armor research is suspect since your opponents might be using crystalline weapons). All other research should be focused around a particular strategy.

I usually focus on sensors (lvl 5) and engines (lvl 3) first to improve my scouting ability. Then I go for intel, armor and cheap weapon upgrades, then once I have expanded a bit my first "expensive" tech is construction for fighters and mines.

Yeah for the first five seconds Intelligence is important back after that controling your quadrant is important make alot of incomplete ship to guard your warp points so you have alot of time for other things like research,etc..

Eek! How did I forget sensors in my list?! I think I know why, actually... I usually use my starting tech points to bump up the sensor tech before the game even starts

Sensors are essential. You need them to spot the enemy, to be sure, but you also need the extra sensor range to find good planets quickly. Quick tip: do NOT use the automatic System Survey command (/). It's inefficient if you have good sensors. You can save yourself a good bit of time by manually surveying systems.

If I remember correctly.

I put the starting points into shipyard tech and engines. The goal is to be able to pump out one colony ship per turn. I spend the first turn or so researching sensors (I colonize my home system during this time). I then send out colony ships with the new sensors as scouts.

For the first 20 or so turns I don't bother with intel. But I would like to impress upon how important it is to focus on Intel at about this point, as RogerN says.

In one of my first games I neglected to work on Intel. After all, it never mattered in SEIV right? Wrong idea...

It was an all of them vs me game.

I don't remember what turn it happened, but I remember it was sudden. All of my planets started to riot, then rebel. The troops I had on the planets would capture the planet back, but it was back and forth. My research was at a stop, but my resources were actually ok. Why? All of my ships mutinied so I pretty much no maint costs... So, I capture a planet back - it rebels. I build a ship, it mutinies. It was at about this time plagues started up...

I don't think I ever even ran into the races that were doing this to me, it was a friend of a friend of a friend type deal. I was so spanked I checked the 'no intel' option for the rest of my games until this last one. So don't forget Intel

Of course, the first thing you need to do is pick up the 1.44 patch and either the BM or AI mods.

YMMV,
Chad

1.) Sensors - so you can see more of a quadrant (and enemies) quickly.

2.) Intelligence - because getting caught with your pants down for a few turns is embarrassing.

3.) Depleted Uranium Cannons - The default starting weapon, but a little more reach than your opponents early on can mean the difference.

4.) Armor - Again, a couple of hits that those tentacled gits from Quadrant 8 can't handle will make life sweeter.

5.) Medium Ship - A step or two ahead of another expanding empire means more armor and more guns per ship.

Sensors & engines.

Usually I start with engines, because that lowers the production cost. I want to churn out 1 colonizer a turn minimal

Sensors are vital for exploration.

~Myrath

I'm a turtle. Research 1st turn (to take advantage of that 26k research bug) and then a few turns in missiles. The Sat my warp points and the put everything into research. Only take a few turns to switch to better armor, missiles and sats (to keep up with other enemies). I aim to keep my research top of the score by at least double, but aim for triple or more.

Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc

Near the beginning of the game (Balance Mod) I find Applied Research to be a poor investment. It takes too long to pay for itself initially. I tend to wait until the benefits will pay for themselves in 10 turns or less.

Example:
The second level of Applied Research gives a 10% research bonus. If the cost is 75k then I won't bother with it until my research production is at least 75k - this way I can recover the cost in 10 turns.

If you develop Applied Research while your total research production is only 10k then your investment will take 75 turns just to pay for itself! (Assuming you're not expanding). In other words, for the next 75 turns you'll have a net loss of research points. Of course in a real game the loss wouldn't be quite so extreme, because you'd be expanding and building more research centers.

Moral of the story? If you can't fully complete a level of Applied Research in one or two turns then it's probably not worth the investment (yet). Build more research centers first.

things I reserch early on in stock

1 Sensors
No brainer realy speeds exploration and the lethality of your weapons by making them hit more often

2 Applied reserch
is its own reward since it lets you catch up if you need to

3 Techs for resuply and cargo storage
better colony ships and not running out of suplys on long scout trips and bullets in combat. Not waisting an early production surplus is a good idea.

4 engines
5 Small & medium hulls
6 Armour
7 weapons

on a hostile first contact 7,6,5,4,3 reverse I use starting points to get TL2 applied reserch and Tl1 Intelegence

Note I tend to play in lage or bigger Quadrents so first contact can be a while away.

What 26k research bug?

I think LordHavoc is referring to the fact that when you start a new game you get this much research points as a one-off. Not necessarily a bug as you could think of it as a bonus, I suppose it's just how you look at it.

I found the above posts quite useful - as a noobie - and the quick start and strategy guide on the Wiki had similar ideas.

I started a new game after my first attempt and after putting all my points into applied research on the first turn this got my research really moving.

Starting research and resource bonus is absolutely not a bug... its an intentional feature, listed right in the game setup screen. You can reduce or increase it from the default 20k. The research bonus might be redundant with the starting tech level setup, but its definitely not accidental or a bug.

SpaceEmpires.net | Space Empires Wiki

Helps in fine-tuning the starting research points (even if a slider would be better than only 3 choices...)