Das made it all look so easy

[Qwixt]

Then I start my first game and I can't find a thing [:D]

For instance, starting out with pre-warp tutorial. I start playing it and I want to build a mining station on the nearby planet. So I try right clicking on the planet. Nope. Ok, how about the exploration screen. I sort the bottom by resources or whatever, and try to use the queue and send button on it. Nope. So now this becomes a quest to just build a construction ship. I go to the space port to manually try and build a construction ship. Nope. Eventually, I try some ship queue dialog, and manage to get 2 to start building. Yay.

[nedcorleone1]

So in other words... it's fun!

[Raap]

You'll quickly get into it.

Construction ships and colony ships are built by colonies, not space ports.

The various types of space stations are built by either construction ships or colonies. Construction ships can only build space ports of a certain size, related to your construction tech level, whereas colonies can build space stations of any size.

[RICO7878]

If you select a planet then you can que a available construction ship to build a mine their using the info window on the lower left hand, bottom buttons. Otherwise if you want a specific ship to build at a planet then you have to select your construction ship first, then right click on the planet and use the build option from the popup menu. Yea you'll get the hang of it through trial and error, I know I did and I agree with mr_flappypants, that's part of the fun! [:D]