I just got the star trek total conversion mod, and I'm starting out exploring waiting to build ships.

Out of curiosity, I looked at the other races trade screen and saw they have defenders and fighters and a decent array of techs and meanwhile I can't build ANYTHING. What gives? Is there a quick route to building ships that I'm missing? This also means I'm still limited to my two planets because I can't build colony ships. Is this standard, in that fairly noob players like myself aren't aware of the basic tech paths to build basic ships, or is it a problem with the mod?

Any feedback at all would be appreciated, even if you need me to give more info - thanks!