Well, if you've played 4X games, then that should help you with the empire building.  It really is a fun game though once you get the hang of it.  Honestly, what helped me more than anything else was just joining the forums and reading the threads in the strategy section, particularly the stickied ones.

Awesome, thanks guys! I did notice it said this on Steam:

"Tutorials: New and updated tutorials make it easy for both experienced and new players to quickly start building their own solar empire."

I just wanted a little more reassurance 

Remember, fastest way to learn this game is to hop on ICO right after installing it and start spamming Kols.

I always thought that smiley was an alligator lol...

SHINE HARDER, SUN!

I remember I started this game blind a long time ago when my roommate said, 'hey, wanna play a game'? I made sure all my deathtraps were secured before going along with it, and I had no idea what I was doing, but I was given backup while I figured it all out. If anything, you can do at least one comp stomp game with another player to learn all of your options per faction.

You can also do single player vs normal AI, pause, and do the same thing, but it's more fun learning in the 'heat of battle', loosely translated as learning 'while you should be colonizing planets and wondering what to do with all the credits.'

one compound  word s-in-gle-pla-yer of and another word tu-tor-ialz

Good idea, I'll write it right now. Thanks Sel.