Choose your first research

Choose research that addresses the next obstacle in your colony. That is usually more useful than moving through several trees without a goal.

Start with a staffed Research Center. Then adapt your priorities to what is slowing you down:

If you need…	Look first at…
More food or housing	Basic Infrastructure; Sustainable Crops improves the Farm.
A higher mine or factory cap	Basic Industry technologies for that building.
Power for new buildings	Energy and its generation requirements.
Ships	Spaceport unlock, followed by Fleet ship models.
System exploration	Espionage Center and S.P.E.C.T.R.A. mapping probes.
Another colony	The path to Colonial Engineering and a colonizer.
Policies	Planetary Legislation, then the law you want to use.

Screenshot pending

Before starting long research, make sure you will have the buildings or ships needed to use it. If your economy is still losing people to food shortages, stabilize it before spending everything on expansion.