u/FlimsyAd4773

I've played a few runs now, and in all of them I seem to be taking forever to develop. In my most recent one, by the year 2400, I had 700 research and 20k fleet size, and then got smoked by the end game crisis that spawned right at my doorstep. I'm always struggling with balancing the economy while increasing research output. The game feels like I'm plugging leaks the whole time instead of getting stronger. Do you have any tips to help with this?