Beginner's Research suggestions

[mischmi]

orbital defence 12/9
advanced shipyards 12/9
forward fleet 24/18

these will be the first i develop together with science speciality. you have 25% research bonus which means you are 12 hours ahead of others (36 compared to 48 hours) and then you can build a fleet of 10-20 cruisers and conquer other players undefended outposts and build beam array defences on these outposts. And you can defend your own outposts early in the game. Thats really important.

Maybe the science speciality has a bit to much bonus, i dont know how it will be against trader/warlords later in the game, but at this early stage (2days after server start) thats a good advantage.