Maybe a "New Player Frequently Asked Questions" thread should be started. It could then be "Bumped" once a week with instructions in the "Bump" with a kind of list of the FAQs in the order they appear. I would recommend spelling out “Frequently Asked Questions” in the name of the thread since not everyone knows what “FAQ” means.
The first FAQ would be the empty population feature.
Just a note: the Empty Colony issue crops up repeated even with experianced player, (well it does for me). It occures when your sweetheart has asked you to quit playing and spend some time with me for the third time. Generaly this issue crops up about 1am.
