So...I tried out the game for a little bit. I get the mechanics of the game, but I'm honestly not sure where to start within the game. My best guess is that I need to set up trade networks? But building starbases takes a really long time, and the planets eventually run out of materials.
On another note, the game crashed when I abandoned a planet. I guess I won't be doing that for the time being.
Edit: While nobody's posting, I had better use this post for my complaints about the game.
If a planet has a "terraforming advised" bio rating, population support drops rapidly. What does the bio rating even mean, and why would a low one cause enough unrest for the populace to start revolting? It feels a little unfair because I always start out with several planets with a bad bio rating AND unrealistically high unemployment (An 80% unemployment rate?!).
There seems to be no way to reduce sector taxes, which end up accounting for the majority of my expenses. I've seen sector taxes of 33% or higher, with my population getting pissy because of it. Wait a second, how come income taxes raise money, but system and sector taxes reduce it? It would make more sense if all three taxes gave you (and the viceroys/governors) income, while expenses paid to keep the planet's facilities running reduced it. There's also no option to tell viceroys to raise taxes...
Planet populations are very small. Even New Terra seems to always be below 10,000,000 people. I suggest that you ramp up starting populations by, say, 10x the normal amount. If that would cause too many pops (which are 5,000 people each) to be in the game, then increase the pop size to 50,000.
If a planet runs out of materials, Edicts for construction can still be passed and go into effect.
I don't have the option to add secondary designations to any planet, even when it has room to add one. Also, sometimes there's a green arrow pointing down next to the Edict selection, but clicking it does nothing. Is it supposed to do something?
I guess my problem with the game is that whenever I try to improve one planet, the rest of the other planets end up deteriorating.