It is with a small cry of joy that I read that the devs are working on better tutorials.
I suggest that Sins is a very hard game to learn. I also play Civ 3 and 4. Now those games you maybe watch a couple video, turn the difficulty down to self destructive moron for AI and start playing. Presently you are pretty good. It is all there for you to see and you get immediate feedback on everything you do.
1. Better tutorials are part of the answer.
2. The second part is fairly easy. A series of videos on youtube either by the devs or good players with fraps. The videos walk the new player through starting a game. I'm doing this so that I can do that. Explain each step. Then a video on basic strategy and tactics for each race. Then perhaps several videos on tips and tricks. Or just "what I like to do" videos. These will help a lot. I think the videos would be fun to make. I mean hopefully they are so that the joy of playing can infect the new player.
The current method of throwing people in and trusting that they iwll learn to swim just stinks. It results in a lot of unhappy new players, bad buzz, and a small player base.