Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares/Summary of techs by level

How research really works
The previous pages presented research costs as if they were exact and always the same. It's more complicated than that, although no-one seems to have worked out the exact details. The best available information is: You could try this (at your own risk). If your race is Tolerant, you could make your ex-scientists produce Trade Goods - you'll need the money some time, possibly to finance an invasion campaign. If not Tolerant, it makes no sense to move all your scientists into industrial production as a lot of it will be wasted by pollution. Research colonies tend to have high populations, so Housing is not efficient there. Farming looks like the best general alternative, as the surplus food will increase your income.
 * At first the game states an estimated number of turns in the Research Status box on the bottom right corner of the Galaxy Screen.
 * When you've invested a very high percentage of the stated RP cost, the game displays in the Research Status box a % chance of completing research on the next turn as well as its estimate of the number of turns remaining, assuming you maintain the same rate of research.
 * When the Research Status box says "100%", some players move all scientists into some other job, so that the only continuing research investment is what the buildings produce on their own, and these players think this causes no delay or at most 1 additional turn.

Summary of techs and research costs
Eight pages of tech details is a lot to remember, so this page tries to summarise the most useful points for each level, excluding the starting and Hyper-advanced techs:
 * Name of each tech level (e.g. "Astro Biology").
 * Names of the techs in that level.
 * The most usual choice(s) for non-Creative empires.
 * Number of RPs needed to research each level.
 * Cumulative number of RPs needed to research each level from a Pre-Warp start. This will show how many RPS in total you need in order to get from your current position to some tech you really want - subtract the desired tech's cumulative RPs from your current level's cumulative RPs; then you compare the result with your current research output (bottom right of the Galaxy map and Colony List screens). You may then decide to research and build some more research buildings first.

Remember that the "Usual non-Creative choices" are only a guide:
 * Choices you make in other tech subjects may makes other choices useful.
 * You must adapt to what your opponents are doing.