Well, your strategy might be do-able, it is not the most competitive strategy for you in the long run. Some of the more expensive technologies are worth taking the extra time for, depending on your strategy. If you only go for the fastest research, you will end up with a slew of low level weapons and defense techs, some basic diplomacy, sensors, etc. You will be handily beaten by an AI that focuses on just one weapon tech, for instance. Also, all of the new colonization techs are quite expensive, and with the strategy you are describing it would be too late to research any of them by the time you were that far down the tech tree.

One of the great things about this game is that there are so many legitimate play styles. It is almost hard to go wrong with a strategy, it will just take a little practice. Some starts are hard to play with and I wouldn't recommend (don't max out the point defense >> aeron defense before you have researched anything else, you won't be able to do much) - but there are at least several dozen very competitive routes through the tech tree depending on your situation in a given game.

That said, your strategy of just going for the cheapest tech will rarely give you what you need to fight any of the mid to high range AI opponents. Read through the tree and figure out what sorts of techs you need first, and take the time to research them.

Actually, if you are going with a tech trading strategy, then you are on the right track. A bunch of small techs with a good trade/diplo bonus will keep you in the green for quite a while and keep you current on techs as well. The key is understanding what the AIs are really willing to pay money for (life support, planet improvements, etc) If you can keep that up for a while, you will be able to stay equal with the other races in terms of tech and be able to build up your empires infrastructure.

Of course there are other strategies out there, but this one works just as well. Good luck!

It will allow you to build on tiles that were previously unusable.

I allows you to make ship components smaller, so that you can fit more of them on a certain size hull. Very useful.

There is a small, third-party program that will allow you to see all of the information that you are asking about. It is called the "Galactopedia". I have found it to be very useful. Here is a link WWW Link Also, the GalCiv Wiki is full of information. Some of it is a bit dated, but all in all, a good resource.