Beginners Guide, HELP!!! (Please Read And Post)

[MikeRMcCartney]

Completely new player here. I'm glad you started this post. Thanks! BTW, sorry if I make comments or suggestions that have already been made. I started playing SE4 one week ago (after downloading the demo about a month ago), and have been rather disappointed in the documentation. I like the idea of an HTML based doc, but the one supplied is not very helpful IMHO. A couple of things I would like to see are: 1) a tech tree, 2)what facilities to build or not to build in the beginning (and why), 3) what to expect from a new race (both friendly and not). Does anyone have a program that lays out the tech levels/facilities/units/ships/etc in a usable manner. I've started an Access database for this, but it will take a while to finish. Thanks for your time, and this is a great forum.