Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather avoid IRC if it's all the same.

And thanks for the pointers. How could I have missed that you get a free capital ship right off the bat?! That beats the pants off sending a few frigates that may or may not survive the contact.
Okay, any suggestions for which scenario to choose? I avoided the "quick conflict" type scenarios because I want a little time to figure out what I'm doing before I run into the computer player. I looked up the one I was using, "Storm Front", which I chose because it said "ample resources." Might there be a better sandbox?
I need more detailed advice about what to do after colonizing. There are far too many options: population, logistics, tactical, explore... How do I know when the first colony isn't costing me money? Just use the credits mouseover info or should I be looking at something more detailed in the colony's planet info?
The tech trees are another thing that's a major source of confusion. Too many options, and no info about the pros and cons of different categories! (Yep, I've read the manual, maybe I haven't fully comprehended it...). Do I go for ship upgrades? Straight to trade? What about the Advent and Vasari? What impact does all that Advent psi stuff really have? What does Vasari enslavement mean? How can I choose what to research when the gameplay impact of these techs aren't clear to me?
Okay, right, too many questions.
I'm just looking for the kind of step-by-step starter approach that is provided in other games by a scripted campaign.