Sucks man, luckily things have been quiet around me lately. I just can’t build a fleet quick enough to survive any real attacks yet. I am still in the process of trying to specialize my planets production. I need to start another colony, but I have been stuck on a research project for like a week and a half and in need to complete research to build another colony.
You have to do intergalactic research lab in research to reduce your research time. Higher level research lab building helps too.