I'm looking for the best path forward from here.

I'm rank 31, Konqul Raider.

Production: 216 research / hour
Minerals 134 units / hour
Artifacts 153 points / hour

With 3 domination cannons, 2 protean armories, 1 CipherBot, 1 Decryption Quad-Frame.

Current badges
Red Badges: 111 (saving for better domination cannons)
Blue Badges: 89
Yellow Badges: 71
Green Badges: 1
Silver Badges: 11

My plan, get the protean armories early then build a large planetary economy. Only 9 more yellow badges and I'll start start on phase two, building planetary economy.

Suggestions? I'm thinking the Mylarai Chain chain first, but that takes a lot more energy/time than the Kronyn chain.

Depends on what your goal is long-term. mylarai and kronyn are good for planetary production, but you will eventually begin to find really good planets and artifacts to allow you to boost their production naturally. At your rank I would suggest the Zolazin chain to get the extra NPC slots if you intend to begin ranking a bit more quickly. You probably have 2 NPC slots open. the Zolazin chain will give you the next 2.

I think your doing right getting your badge artis. We always encourage people to do that from rank one. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "building a planet economy" but I'm going to assume you mean heightening your production. Mining isn't very important at all at your rank, but it will become important later on as you grow. Kronyn is only useful early on as research gets redundant after you research everything. This however is a LONG way off, so the best strategy I would say is become Kronyn, then once you feel comfortable with your research switch to Mylarai. Of course the best race is Taltherian, because arti rules. But that too is a LONG way off, before you even unlock it never mind do it.