I am only considering scout range.

Couple more re-starts since then, I have yet to see 4 or 5 stars since then. I am playing with default settings as to density.

So I go to colonize my third planet, and since there are native inhabitants, I figure I better be ready. I have the money ready and buy a market to please the inhabitants on turn one and have money to buy a tank on turn 2 (with more citizens in transit). But they revolt and take over the planet on ...

Thanks.

If I could suggest... "No defense slot available" might not be the most helpful message on the build screen. Maybe "Tech not researched" or maybe not even showing up as an option. Or alternatively, distinguishing between the two kinds of slots in the manual.

I go to build a planetary defense and see that "No defense slot is available." I do have slots available on that planet, and the manual section on "Planet Yields and Improvement Slots" says: "Available improvements include Factory, Lab, Farm, Mine, Market and Planetary Defense Base." Nothing about ...

Next game I had exactly one star system within range, but it was habitable and I went ahead and played, so no further testing of this for now.

As a newcomer to the game, I am rather curious about what I am seeing in early gameplay.

I am trying the Phidi at easy difficulty sometimes on a normal sized galaxy and sometimes huge. Several starts in a row, I find that I have only 1-3 stars within exploration range. Of these, 1-2 have pirates ...