Now that we've finished downloading and configuring the game and familiarized ourselves with the UI, let's begin!
After you click "Our Journey Is the Sea of Stars," a game playing as the United Nations of Earth will begin. The first things you'll notice are your territory outlined in blue, the word "Earth" in the middle, and the blue Hyperlanes and unexplored systems around it.
Next, you'll notice three yellow notification icons in the upper left. These are asking you to select technologies to research.
Click one, and the technology screen will open automatically. We need to select one Physics technology, one Society Research technology, and one Engineering technology to research.
The playstyle I'm teaching you now is a development-focused approach: no wars in the short term, just peaceful domestic development.
Everything depends on the economy, so the first thing you need to learn is how to increase production within your own borders.
Stellaris has far too many technology choices, and they're too complicated for me to explain every research path in just a few chapters. But I can at least give you some principles, such as how to choose technologies for a development-focused playstyle.
That means you shouldn't rush to pick military technologies, such as shields and weapons. Look through the available technologies; some of them will definitely increase resource production. Our first priority with this playstyle is to raise production, so choose technologies that boost it in the early game. Basic reading comprehension is all you need to make these choices.
Don't agonize over technology choices or be afraid of making them. If your difficulty setting is very low, it doesn't matter what you choose. Go ahead and pick boldly-the AI won't catch up with you anyway.
Sometimes, you'll see technologies with distinctive borders and a message saying, "This