Welcome to the forum and the game.
There are a few strategy articles out and other nifty links in the bottom STICKY thread.
Mostly for PBW games you should read Fyrons article about maximizing points. I don't have a link to it but there might be one on his web site.
www.spaceempires.net
When you get up to speed playing you might want to try your hand at moding. That is really the major draw for many of us now.