When To Upgrade What?

[Phantom]

I'm just curious when I should upgrade what? From the start of the game I usually research Scout Drone Mark 2 and Fighters Mark 2. I'll later on get gravitational turrets and engineer mark 2 then focus on getting mark 3 for my fleet but I'm wondering, what is the best to research depending on what situation. I just don't want to screw up too much and want to know when is it best to research what?

[Coppermantis]

Mk. II and III economic command stations are always a first unlock for me. Having a good economy is really helpful as you can churn out ships, repair golems and more stuff faster. Mk. II fighters and mk. II of my bonus ship are also pretty critical.

[keith.lamothe]

I generally go for mkII and mkIII econ stations too, but it would depend on the initial map situation.  If I have no easy fights near me it means that I both need mkII fleet ships immediately just to be able to take a planet (possibly) and that I don't have anywhere to put the higher-mark econ stations.  Higher-mark resource extractors could also be unlocked to increase production on the homeworld, of course, if I thought I could win fights with the ship cap already available to me.  Once I take a few planets I can get more knowledge and the focus becomes less acute.

[_K_]

Yeah, eco II tech is pretty much a must, as the economic boost it provides is incredible. I usually prefer to wait with upgrding to level 3 until i hit the cap for mark II stations, as it feels like a waste to have so many unused stations early on, when you dont have enough systems.
Fighter/Bomber II are also always my first pick. Bombers are extremely useful in combat, hard countering quite a few objects, and fighters are so cheap its always nice to have more of them.
Tachyon tower if the AI has cloakers, warp sensor because its cheap, flagship, basic turrets mk-II, hardened and regular forcefields, engineers mk-2 and scouts mk-2, bombers mk-3.
I grab all these as soon as possible, then proceed to balance between getting better turrets and mark-III fleet ships. Also, raid starships get researched along the way.

[Cyborg]

I go for the harvester upgrades first because you don't actually have a planet to put the economic command station on yet (in the beginning).

[zoutzakje]

I never use eco stations. Always play with Logistics command stations on every single world. gravity turrets get unlocked pretty quick. And I only unlock higher tier fleet ships based on incoming waves. Scout II and III get unlocked right from the start, since I spend most of the first hour scouting. some turret upgrades later on (mainly gravity and tractor). everything else just depends on what the enemy throws at me. I tend to save my knowledge for when I really need it.
Yes, my economy might be pretty slow with this... but logistics + gravity turrets + tractor turrets prevents enemy ships from getting anywhere fast.

[Phantom]

What is better overall for econ focus, econ mark II station or better harvesters?

I usually go with scout, fighters, and grav turret on the start last time. I upgrade forcefields along the way and get some raider starships, better turrets, engineers, and other stuff around the way.

When is it best to upgrade a Fortress and for upgrading turrets, what would you prefer most? Beam Turrets? Missile Turrets?

[Hearteater]

I Economic Command Station II is better than Harvester II except if you have a ton of planets.  In my current game with six planets I have 18 Metal and 20 Crystal resources.  So my choices are:

Metal Harvester II : +8/metal resource = +144 metal
Economic Command Station II : +48 metal & crystal/system (excluding home system) = +240 metal, +240 crystal (+288 metal, +288 crystal cap)

Note that Harvesters are 750 knowledge cheaper, but they far under-perform the Economic Command Station upgrades, again, except under extreme circumstances.

[Phantom]

I see, but you gotta buy harvester twice one of each, I guess econ mark 2 would be the more worthier buy, should i upgrade that right when I capture a planet that has worthy economic values?

[Hearteater]

Econ II gives a flat 80 metal and crystal, compared to an Econ I which gives 32 of each.  It doesn't matter what metal/crystal resources exist on the planet at all for Econ Command Stations.  I generally find it not really all that critical to unlock Econ II until I capture a couple of planets, but then again I generally don't unlock a whole lot at first anyway, so I could unlock them immediately if I wanted.  They just don't do any good until you capture your first planet (your Home Command Station gives massive metal/crystal, even more than Econ III so you can't "upgrade" it).

[Wanderer]

Personal choices will depend heavily if I'm doing an 8 homeworld game with Fallen Spire campaign.

For non rediculous setups:
Immediate: Grav Turrets, Econ Station II and III (I want the IIIs, the IIs are in the way).
Shortly after scouting: Bomber IIs if nearby fortresses.  Flagships if the enemy is running Maws or Tractor Spires something similarly evil to light fighters.
Whipping boy setup: Fortress I, Basic II
Conquer Time: Mobile Repair stations, upgrade the core fleet units or go pure starship with Zenith and start upgrading the bomber starship fleet.

[Kahuna]

I usually start by unlocking a lot of ships and capturing the nearby planets. Then I unlock Economical Orbital Command Station Mark II. Advanced Warp Sensor and Harvester Exo-Shields if/when needed. I unlock MarkII Force Fields and MarkI Hardened Force Fields when I run out of MarkI shields. EconCommands I research when I can't build/repair stuff non stop and/or when I have ~3 planets. Engineers I upgrade when my economy is strong enough to support more engineers and faster building. I research Turrets when I have built all/most of my currently available turrets and/or when my fleet can't be in 2 places at once.. like I need my whole fleet for attacking or whatever and the current defenses aren't enough. I get better Scouts when I don't know what to do next and feel like I need more information. Zenith SpaceTime Manipulators I research when the distance trough my "empire" is about 5 or 6 hops or when I just feel like I need more mobility.

In my current game I'm playing against 2 9 Very Hards, Neinzul Nester and Neinzul Viral Enthuasist and I've been very successful with this research order:
Flagship (2000 knowledge)
Zenith Starship (5000 knowledge)
Missile Frigate MarkII (2500 knowledge)
Bulletproof Fighter MarkII (2500 knowledge)
Economical Orbital Command Station Mark II (4000 knowledge)
Bomber MarkII (2500 knowledge)
Scout Drone MarkII (500 knowledge)
Force Field Generator MarkII  (2000 knowledge)
Spire Starship (7000 knowledge)
Bulletproof Fighter MarkIII (6000 knowledge)
Scout Drone MarkIII (2250 knowledge)
Basic Turret MarkII (750 knowledge)
Engineer MarkII (1000 knowledge)
Economical Orbital Command Station MarkIII (5000 knowledge)
Zenith SpaceTime Manipulator (1750 knowledge)
Missile Frigate MarkIII (6000 knowledge)
So I started with the starships because they're durable, do a lot of damage and boost the attack power of your ships. I capped all ships (Normals+Light- , Flag- and Zenith Starships) before I attacked and captured the nearby planets. As I said I've been very successful with this research order in my current game. I already destroyed the other AI a while ago and will win tomorrow.
However.. what you should research depends on the situation.

I hope that helps at least a little bit. 

[Kahuna]

What is better overall for econ focus, econ mark II station or better harvesters?

48*(NumberOfPlanets-Home)=resource income increase when upgrading from MarkI EconCommand to MarkII EconCommand
8*(NumberOfMetalAsteroids+NumberOfCrystalAsteroids)=resource income increase when upgrading from MarkI Harvesters to MarkII Harvesters

Thank you calculator.
So Harvesters are better end game when you have lot of planets and thus LOT of Metal/Crystal asteroids.

In this screenshot I have 66 resource asteroids so upgrading the Harvesters would increase my resource income by 66*8=528.
14 planets - home = 13. So 13*48=624 when upgrading from Econ I to Econ II. So Economical Command still wins even though I have 13 planets.

^^I forgot there's unit cap for EconCommands. Anyway.. the point is.. EconCommands for early game and Harvesters for end game. Also if you want to increase the income of both resources you have to upgrade metal AND crystal harvesters which is almost twice as expensive as upgrading EconCommand. EconCommands also give power unlike harvesters.

[Philo]

You can only build 6 Econ II Command Stations which might screw up your calculations.

[Kahuna]

You can only build 6 Econ II Command Stations which might screw up your calculations.

Oh that's true.. didn't remember that! Thanks for reminding me.
Well then it's 6*48=288. Anyway.. the point is.. EconCommands for early game and Harvesters for end game. Also if you want to increase the income of both resources you have to upgrade metal AND crystal harvesters which is almost twice as expensive as upgrading EconCommand. EconCommands also give power unlike harvesters.