To start research first choose a Topic, for our purposes we will choose the Ship topic. Then choose a percentage of the scientists to work on this research. Gradualy the Estimated Percent will increase at an unpredictabe rate until it reaches 100%. At this time the scientists have had a "breakthough" and have discovered a Research Idea. For the Ship topic this would be the Frigate, however when more research topics are available it may be unpredictable which Idea is discovered (unless there is a specific order of course). One can reseach several fields at once, however at this time with only two research topics available this is not necessary. A note, sometimes the Estimated Percent section must run from 0-100%, reset to 0% and work itself back to 100% before an Idea is available for research from that topic.
At this time the Frigate Idea will be listed under the Available Research Ideas heading. Select this Idea to order the scientists to begin researching in order to gain access to this new information. Currently this is the only other game feature that requires turns to complete, the other being to build ships. Wait a turn and then this research Idea has been discovered and is now available for use by the empire. For the Frigate Idea this means frigates are now available to be constructed at the shipyards.
There is one part of this page that has yet to be explained: Percentage of research to spend on Idea Research. From here it is possible to modify how much of the research facilities output is directed towards Idea Research, and how much is directed to Topic Research. The higher the percentage the more research is directed towards Research Ideas, in other words Research Ideas equals Idea Research.