I know it's been a while since this posted, but as mentioned above, it's all about the crew you select. Don't just pick the ones that show up. I focus on trying to get the Instructor leveled and on any trip they show up on. The higher you get them, the faster all your other crew get promoted. The other crew member to always load out is the special goods improvement, this % boosts your other crew members yield. Then just start sending out your + special goods. Some crew start of negative, but as you level them their bad skills improve. Always try to send out the ship at 100% as this affects how much your crew produces. Early in the Age you might just be in the mid teens on collections, but after a few promotions you could be in the low hundreds. Keep in mind the AI Core can boost the collection too. A lot of players overlook this, but you can pick and choose which special goods get boosted. Once you get the synthesizers going, these also benefit from the AI Core.
And look at getting the Quantum...Transcendence building. It's like the SC, but you can use the finish special production, the BG or Eternal Market 2x on it. No fp's, so you don't have to keep dumping them to collect. Doing two or three self-aid, finish specials, 2x's, and AI Core boosts could me a full tech research each day. So also tie in those buildings that can give you frags for those self-aid, finish/finish all special productions. And if you apply this to the Space Ages, you can buy goods at the GbG store, use synthesizers for past ages, and still move fairly fast through research.