I've watched Stardock's YouTube tutorial videos, played through the tutorial itself, watched some "Let's Play" videos, etc., but I'm still missing something basic. In every game I've played, even on the easiest difficulty setting, I get my ass handed to me in pretty short order - I seem to start out okay, but it's not long until I rank dead last in every category compared to other races.
The main problem seems to be ship production. By the time I've got a couple of star bases built, a colony ship or two, and maybe half a dozen small ships to defend my home world, another race declares war on me and shows up with a fleet of fifteen ships. Even if I manage to hold off that attack, another of a similar size shows up right behind it and I have no way to defend my world.
I need to find a way to increase the number of ships I can build quickly so I can at least defend myself properly. As it stands now, I'm generally beaten even before the galaxy has been entirely revealed. Any tips for this perennial interstellar punching bag would be appreciated.