Stupid Newbie Question(s): Yes, I'm the one doing the asking. =)

[Yin]

Just got the game yesterday after being let down by Civ3 (sorry to those of you who are enjoying Civ3). Anyway, I've read the manual --such as it is-- and have already downloaded a bunch of ship sets 'cause they seem quite cool.

The Question:

Please don't boo at me, but for the life of me I can't figure out why I can't colonize on planets in a newly explored area? I mean, the planet gets colonized but there is suddenly no pop there to do any work. These are on rock planets (which is o.k. for my race) with domes ... so I can't figure this out, and the manual is no help.

What am I missing? Thanks. And don't be surprised if I come back to this thread with more stupid questions, though I will always look through the forum first to see if the question is already answered.