First Few Turns
Initial View
The first thing we see when we get into the game is that "New Earth" is size 2 and will grow in 8 turns. Click or Double Click on the star system's name so that you can choose it's first build instruction.
Build Order
Normally I order up two scouts, because they are so valuable in finding free techs, money, military ships, and even colony ships among the space debris. If we are lucky enough to get a free colony ship we are well on our way to a good lead on the competition. Naturally, on larger maps, it happens a great deal more often. Another thing of note is the information found right under our capitol's name, which has to do with the health and happiness of our star system. Currently, we have 5 healthy points (denoted by the red cross in the center of a white circle) and 4 unhealthy (denoted by the green sick looking face), as well as, 6 happy (denoted by the yellow happy face) and 4 unhappy (denoted by the red scowling face). The key to success is to keep our healthy and happy numbers higher, by constructing the proper buildings, adopting favorable civic changes, and obtaining resources that will benefit our people, otherwise, our productivity, research, commerce, and food supplies will suffer and we will fall behind the other civilizations, which could mean defeat. Essentially, some of our people will not work or research, but they will still use up our resources and our growing empire may end up in anarchy, due to revolution. That is, if we don't take care of their needs. However, there ARE times when we must ignore the health and happiness of our people for the greater good, so keep that in mind. Press the "ESC" key to leave the star system management screen.
Research Order
The second thing we should do is choose the first technology that we are going to research. You can do this by hovering your mouse over the top center icons and clicking on the technology that you want to research. The image to the left is what you would see if you didn't choose a technology on your first turn, but rather waited until your second. The choices are:
1) Gravity Training (can train invasion ships, construct training compounds, and this research path leads to military academies): Since the game has just started, we do not need invasion ships, training compounds, or military academies, so the first option is not a smart move, in my opinion. Just like in the regular civilization game, the early stages are all about "Land Grabbing"; therefore, choosing this option will only hold us back.
2) Orbital Engineering (can build warp lanes and star bases, can train anti-ship missiles, advocates of wealth, and star bases, the first to discover this technology founds the value "Wealth", and this research path leads to Synthetic Composites): The second option is not as bad, because the first to discover it will found the value, "Wealth". However, even though we will need warp lanes and star bases they are not our immediate concern.
3) Light Craft Manufacturing (can build extraction facilities, enables the Monarchy civic, can train bomber squadrons, can construct mining facilities, squadron factories, and squadron defense networks, and this research path leads to Synthetic Composites and Space Elevator technologies): The third option is a little better, because extraction facilities will allow us to gain valuable resources from asteroid fields if they are present and close by. Also, the Monarchy Civic is pretty good, because it increases our production and commerce which is very important. However, we do not need more powerful military units or a defense network for quite a while and this option does not allow us to colonize other star systems, which is the main goal in the early game.
4) Space Exploration (can train colony and planetary defense ships and this research path leads to Survivalism and Planetary Construction): The fourth option is by far the most advantageous, because we are able to send out Colony Ships to increase the size of our empire, which is the most important, immediate concern. Also, the planetary defense ship is the perfect unit we can use to garrison our star systems in the early game. So far so good. Another great benefit of choosing this early technology to research, is that it leads to the value, "Survivalism", which adds a bonus to health for our empire and we are definitely going to need it. It's perfect! We are able to colonize other star systems, garrison our home base, and are en route to found an extremely helpful value, all in one shot.
The third thing we should do is send our initial Planetary Defense Ship (PDS) in any direction to explore the area close by our home star system. It is best to just explore the area and not grab any of the goody hut / space debris with your PDS, because scout ships will obtain better results, just like the regular civ game. However, Exploring makes it easy for the scout ships to grab those goodies right away, because they are already revealed by your PDS.
So, we chose to build two scout ships and started researching Space Exploration, which will allow us the ability to build Colony Ships, then we sent our PDS out to explore the vastness of space. You just have to press Enter to end your turn.
Next Few Turns
I sent our PDS north and on the first turn it discovered both an Oxygen Resource (which gives +3 health once an extraction facility is built) and a Radiation cloud, which is denoted by the green mist in the image to the left. Be aware that the radiation cloud will damage your ship. You can pass through it with no damage, but do not end your turn within the cloud.
I decided to send our PDS further north and it discovered another Oxygen Resource. A few turns later we finished researching Space Exploration and can now build a Colony ship, but we should wait for the completion of our first scout ship, first. The next technology to research is a little bit tougher to decide, because "Planetary Construction" will allow us to build the "Mag-Lev Network" which provides a much needed boost to our economy, but our two scout ships should find enough booty for us to research something else that is more important at the moment. That said, we can assume that the other civilizations went for the technology that will found the "Wealth" value, which is probably out of reach for us by now. So, if we want to be the founder of a value, we have to research "Survivalism" next. Personally, I think it's the best value available, because after we build all of those factories and shipyards our empire's health will be hurting for sure.
<Continue on to the discovery of our first new star system>