I dont know of eny manuals or guides , but i can tell u how i start the game .

First ting i do is to build a Capitol shipjard , sins the first capitol ship is free.(i normaly take the 1 that can take planets , save both time and ressorses by not needing to build the Ship that do the same)

Second ting i do is to build on the ressors bases in the starting area area .

Third thing i do is to build 2-3 Scouts (depending on how meny planets are conected to the home world) and send em on auto exsploration.

Forth : build 4 combat ships (non scouts) and make it into a group whit the capitol ship , and if u got a asteroid (conolisebel) then send the fleet to take it .

After that i just go around taking the asteroids i can finde sins thay got 2-3 ships in def (that are conected to my planets).

I normaly wait whit building a second capitol ship (becose thay are exspensive) , in the tab for fleet management in rescearch u can can rescearch 2 tings

1 : more capitol ships .

2: Bigger Fleet sice (but at a uppkeep cost)

But notsist that u need to build rescearch buildings to unlock the rescearch .

Hope this helps u out , and sorry for my bad spelling .

One thing I did when I first started playing SOASE was click on every button icon on the UI (I do that for most RTS games). That way you can get the feel for how the interface flows and how different things interact. 

Also, set the map size to large or huge and set the computer to a single easy opponent.  Turn of pirates at first and build everything, research everything, and generally take your time getting into the game.  Set research and income to slow if you dont mind taking the time to get used to everything, otherwise I'd do medium or even quick (bare in mind that the computer will also be on that setting speed).

There is an icon at the top of the UI for research.  Be sure to read through what all of the researches do (I usually read through them as they become available).  Once you get the hang of the game, scale it upward until it is a comfortable level for you.

Finally, dont be afraid to ask questions about the game from the community.  We are generally nice and helpful and an awesome game like Sins should be accessible to all!

Hehe, yeah, the game setup process can take some playing around. Again, click everything you can just to see what it does. Thats generally a good rule of thumb for software in general. If a piece of software can be broken by clicking something then it probably wasn't worth using in the first place. Mostly you learn alot by using all functionality at least once.

This is usually how I do things.

Build one capital ship and 2 scouts. Then set them to auto scout.

Next build combat frigates (right up to the ship cap.)

Build two civilian (not military) research stations. And research ice or volcano planet colonization. (Whichever one is convienient.)

By now your scouts should have a few planets reveiled. Take the nearest asteroids. Then start looking at "choke point", Holding worlds were all the faze lanes bottleneck early and fortifying them against the AI and pirate factions is key. (Always be on the lookout for desert worlds, These have tons of logistical slots for building reasearch staions, factories, Culture transmitters or resource ports.)

Take these worlds as fast as you can,then Fortify them with defenses. You can prevent other empires from expanding and work backwards to capture worlds that are now yours to take at your leisure. I do recomend building at least 2 military research stations when you have a planet captured. This is enough to max the offense on you startef frigates and improve thier defence considerably.

After that it's really a case of building up your economy, armory, or diplomacy. According to your profile.

Also dont forget the speed up and slow down time buttons on the hud. These are your friendswhen you are waiting on resources or build queues.

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