Something I do that seems helpful in getting tech points is put all but one of my villagers on the reaserch table at the same time, keep the other farming. You should focus mainly on the tasks that need to be done in order to get the unlimited food source (ie, fixing the lift, getting lvl 2 in either faction, etc.) I use the tech points strategy in other areas as well, such as building huts

**edit**
PAUSE the game when you are not actually playing it