[ckotchey]

This is one of the concerns I had when learning this game as a newbie myself. I had downloaded the demo Version of the game, and had to play through 5-10 games simply to answer questions like "what is a weapons platform" and "how do I use them" and so forth. Then, I played a game to learn about fighters. Then, I played a game to learn about troops, then I played a game to learn to use satellites.
Now I own the game.
And I play a game to learn to create planets. And I play a game to learn to create wormholes.
And I play a game to learn about boarding parties.
And I play a game to learn about psychic technology.
...
Sooner or later I'll have to play a game to learn what ringworlds and sphere worlds are - and how to use them, and how to build them, etc. etc.
Sometimes, such learning is fun, but when there are so many aspects of the game that one has to learn (since they aren't mentioned or even hinted at in the manual and tutorials), you could easily go down the path of a bad assumption and totally ruin your current game.