Engines == Speed
Life support == Range

if you need to go further, you need to add life support modules.

For galaxies with big gaps between star systems, you will probably want/need both

Also, you can piggy back off of your new planets to get range. you only need one colony module per ship, esp early on.

Cheers,
Reaver

You can put on basic support modules even without researching anything, they are available under the modules tab of the ship designer. You can research better life support after researching basic logistics, and each life support technology gives you a blanket range bonus for all ships, including existing ones, as well as a more efficient life support module. You can also extend your range by building starbases with constructors, I believe.

Engines are not at all related to the range of a ship, only how fast it goes. So if you have to, you can put on fewer engines to leave room for life support models, although your ships will take a long time to get to the distant planets.

Another thing, in future games if you see that you are in a very isolated starting position and want to avoid facing this problem again you can press Control-N to get a new random starting position.

Edit: Heh, Saguinius beat me to most of the advice....

Cntrl N, is for weaklings.... My best (most fun), games are either this sort of start, or at least a crowded start where i don't get to many planets.

I wish there where settings to change the range scale. Most of the time range just isn't an issue. Having to build resupply starbases, and protecting them would really make the game more fun for me.

Depends on how well you manage your empire...

If all you're worried about is extending range, it shouldn't matter which one you use. Influence starbases are pointless in the middle of nowhere, so you might as well build military/economic depending on whether you think you're going to need military support or trade boosting there later.

I wish they would re-do Max tange. Instead of simply "not allowed", you would lose hit point on a regular basis, depending on how far you are from "maximum range".

That way, cargo ships still can't go too far, but you could do lightning-strike outside your max range..

I always had the other view point. If you go beyond max range, I think your ship should die.

For the colony modules, another trick would be to make a scout ship out of a cargo hull with only life supports and engines. have it scout for you and if you find another planet, upgrade it to a constructor, build a base, and use the range extention of the base to get a colony ship with extra engines there fast. This only works if you have lots of dough.

When the technology becomes available I make two classes of ships -

fast colony ships (2 or 3 engines)

and

fast troop transport ships.

With the transport ships, I take a freighter hull and add 4 or 5 warp drives. It allows me to show up on an enemy's doorstep REAL quick after having eliminated their defenses. Don't add any weapons or armor, and these ships will be real cheap. Make sure to add 2 ultra or advance life support modules, and perhaps a sensor module. When taking over a large enemy, I set up rally points in a couple of areas and have a number of planets crank these out. Don't let them make to many, or they'll deplete the # of soldiers guarding the planet, though.

I was stuck on gigantic with only two planets at the start of my current game
-my home and the class 4 in the same system as other planets were out of range-and im now a very dominant power having taken out the arcaens, torians, altarians and drath in that order-

I'm now embroiled in a conflict i am winning with the Yor who own the very desirable and dominant cluster of habitable planets in the centre of the map.

To achieve this basically i neglected my military for the early part of the game focusing on tech (esp. diplomacy) and economy and trade. The diplomacy is v imporant as it made the other civs less eager to crush me like a bug.
Having secured a profitable economy and advanced tech i then was secure enough to take out my nearest most hostile rival-the arcaeans with a war fleet and transports which i could afford to buy.

From thence on its been a game of building up money and tech then launching inavasion fleets-my diplomacy rating is ridiculous now! So if you have four planets to begin with and your on a smaller map you should be fine!

Didn't someone make a mod that restricted range much more?