you will start as the terran race, read the manual at the top of the screen about terran as a race and their is a walkthrough guide to help get you started. by doing missions as you progress the missions will help you get started as well, this is a turn based game where turns will replenish themselves over time and you use turns to do most things here, establish a positive income and begin researching your ships but remember to stay under 5000 pr so you cant be attacked