ORIGINAL: Burschi500
1) Some of my colonies are connected by blue dashed lines.
Does that mean there is trade? Spaceports?
It is mostly a graphical representation of where your colonies are. The network of lines draws a connection between all colonies of an empire and is most likely independent of an actual amount of of trade or transportation. The only thing to note is that planets without spaceports will always be at a 'leaf' of the tree, while planets with spaceports can and usually do connect to several others.
2) Building and resources
When i start building things i need ressources (polymer and the like) How do i find out if i have enough of a given resource in my empire (and available in the building location?)
This is a pretty involved question, as your needs can (and if you build ships and other stuff in waves) *will* fluctuate wildly. The best source of information about this is the expansion planner, which at the top as a rough but sometimes misleading supply/demand accounting.
Just take note that the supply of any resource will only include your stocks under mining stations or spaceports, and only the part of your stocks that isn't bound by - probably - build and shipment orders or, in the case of luxury resources, isn't reserved for local consumption. The number of sources listed in expansion planner, however, counts all sources, especially also the planets without space ports. Whether this discrepancy between 'listed' and 'unlisted' stock has any practical effects is, at least to me, completely unknown.
The demand column will mainly sum up the 'unfilled' demand anywhere be it planet or space station. For each installation you can look at the local stores where there are 'amount' and 'rsvd' columns. The latter is the local demand and it can surpass the amount. These differences will then make the overall or 'unfilled' demand in Expansion Planner.
Also, I have observed in my game some strikingly erratic fluctuations in demand for 'rarer' luxury resources. Whith 'rarer' I mean 'Yarras Marble' and 'Bifurian Silk' which aren't particularly special as, say, Loros Fruit but the rarest of the rest. The demand for these comes in waves, and goes away after a while without being fulfilled - according to Expansion Planner. Since the planets keep up their orders, this may hint at a misinterpretation on my side regarding these numbers and what they mean.
The demand and handling of the special luxury resources, on the other hand, is most likely broken to make another long story short.
Generally you should be worried when any unfilled demand surpasses or reaches the order of magnitude of your stocks.
3) Freighters. Can i move population from one planet to another to get better growth?
It happens automatically and is completely under the control of the private sector. They build passenger ships and use these to move population and tourists according to their own whims.
You have at best indirect control over this by designing the passenger ships. At the start of every game you should make sure the existing design can actually be built with your construction tech. This wasn't guaranteed in an earlier version and I don't know about the current state.
4) Designs again. So it is normal that i have designs available i cant build from the start (like resupply ships)?. You can load designs, so i guess you can also save them; are there any "standard" designs available from the forums?
Yes it is normal. Don't worry, you don't *need* to be able to build all of these from the start. Except for (see above) passenger ships and stuff. You *could* design small versions of Capital ships and the like and either replace or upgrade them as the game progresses.
Also note, that Monitoring Stations don't even have the components to be deployed according to their role at the start of a game. You first need to research the long range sensors.
5) Bases and resources - Is there an easy way to determine what cargo is located in which base? When i select a base in the main view and the base info is displayed at the bottom left window i cant see its cargo. Wouldnt it be nice to have a button (or tabs) going directly to the relevant lists?
I honestly do not understand this concern. Note, you can double-click the name of a planet or ship or base to open its details view in the Ships and Bases or Colonies dialogs. There can hardly be a more direct way than this. What I find irritating is how bulky and slow-loading these dialogs become over advanced games.
6) Destination of ships. Ok, its easy selecting a ship and if its going to an explored system i can figure it out. But if there is listed "unknown destination" i can only guess. Would be nice to have some lines from the ship to the destination it is going, even for destinations which are known. Or do i just dont find that option?
There is no such option as far as I know.
