Hey fellow TI players. what are your MUST HAVE techs??

Enviro Compensator, Sarween Tools and Hylar V. Everything else is just gravy.

Hylar V Assault Laser, Enviro Compensator, Sarween Tools, and XRD Transporters are tech that I feel any race can make good use of in any situation. Everything else I would say is rather situational depending on the race you're playing and what the galaxy setup is like.

Automated Defense Turrets, Stasis Capsules, and Gravity Drive are also all very useful in most situations, but aren't tech I find myself with every time I play.

I love Hyper Metabolism! I'll do what i can to get it early on every game - however there might be some prioritizing which exculdes it

Now that you mention it, XRD IS a good way to speed up reinforcements and expansions so I'll add that to my list of must-haves.

Sarween Tools, Enviro Compensators, stasis capsules and War Sun.

I should clarify that I do believe you can win a game without War Suns, but this is my list. I don't play without War Suns anymore. Since War Sun takes quite a bit to get going, I generally pass on XRD transports and use cruisers and the war sun for high speed transports.

For me its Hylar V Assault Laser, Enviro Compensator, Sarween Tools, Anti-Mass Deflectors, XRD Transporters, and usually more often than not I find my way into getting Type IV Drive and sometimes Advanced Fighters.

Sarween Tools is a must have if I don't have a race that starts with it. I usually like to go for DSC, but if my race is poorly aligned to get it quickly I can live without. That's about it. Any other tech I get will be motivated primarily by objectives that give me VP for having tech, in which case I pick the stuff that looks like it might come in handy this game.

If I have a race who's good at getting tech (ie: Jol-Nar) or otherwise high on the starting yellows, I may try to maneuver myself for Nanotech (I think that's the one) because getting planets untapped is HUGE.

What are my must have techs?

The ones that get me VP. The rest are just icing on the cake.