Research points

Research points are one of the crucial aspects of a planet's productivity, providing the means for ascending the technology tree.

Overview
Research points generated by colonies are pooled together for the purposes of research. Naturally, you want this to be as high as possible, to ensure a technological advantage over the opponent or simply to not lag behind them overly much. While raw industrial output and strength in numbers can provide a decent advantage, nothing beats cutting edge ships loaded with the most advanced weapons brought to bear on the opponent (well, except for prohibitive costs of manufacture).

Optimizing production

 * For a list of structures that affect the food output of a planet, see Colony structures
 * Research points are biome-agnostic, unlike food and production. Finally, a purpose for all those F-class planets!
 * Ideally, you want to construct worker-independent structures first. These provide a constant supply of RP without the need for devoting precious manpower to research. Follow them up with those increasing the general output of productivity and global bonuses.
 * Of course, if you're going for a research blitz, focusing on individual bonuses is preferable, as these maximize the effectiveness of each worker.