How long do games last?

Up to you, although IMO longer games are better. I've finished games in under an hour. I've also played games that took all weekend, plus hours of procrastinating on homework on weekdays. Now that an even bigger galaxy size is being offered to us in TA, you can expect that estimation to rise.

How long is a single turn?

Again up to you. I average between 40 and 3 turns an hour. If you're playing in a huge map with a lot of inhabitable planets, then you'll probably spend a lot of time doing tedious micromanaging (this is what the Govenors screen is for.) If you're asking about game time, it's a week. Ships on Autopilot that still have move left follow their courses when you click the Turn button.

How good is the micromanagement?

You have a very fine degree of control over what goes on in your colonies. The ability to have super-customized fleets improves this somewhat. Each planet can support a certain number of buildings (of your choice,) and you can order the planet to focus on a certain area, at the expense of the others. You can also shift the empire's funds away from one project and towards another. You can't micromanage every last point, but if you had the patience and concentration of a machine, you could come close. This is one reason that the AI tends to own you so hard even without "cheating."

Is there multi-player?

No. The admins posted their reasons for this on these forums.

Thanks, I think I'll get this game either this week or the next. Its Gold Edition BTW.

I would suggest you to download the gold demo and play it out and see if you like it. I did it and I must say, I am not very impressed with the game mechanics, especially the research part.

And in answer to the OP, as long as you want. If you want games that last pretty much any amount of time you can have them here.

Demo? Can you tell me a bit about it? Alsom whats the learning curve like; does the game have tutorials?

Probobly a bad thing that this will be my first turn-based strategy... ever.

Alright, just 30 mins till the demo is downloaded. Any beginner tips that could help me from screwing up early in the game?

#1 it's just a game, so don't be afraid to screw up!

#2 mess around with stuff. there's so many details to learn, if you tried to analyze them ahead of time you could give yourself a headache. if instead you develop a more intuitive understanding of the game mechanics, you'll be in a better position to advance to the higher difficulty settings. IMO, anyway.

Okay, I've played a total of... 3 WHOLE TURNS!!! I bought a factory and am I building a lab and a market. I am researching Universal Transloator.

when you get more experienced, some of those early turns can become the most anxious! (well, not the first few, but the early game definately becomes the most tense once you know what you're doing IMO).

one last piece of advice: there's no best way to play except the one that's most fun for you.

Okay, I'm getting used to the interface. I've met the Korath Clan, and have a total of 2 PLANETS COLINIZED!!! My surveuyer was warped by a wormhole, lets see what happens.

Not sure it's a bug - do you have your military production at zero?

Actually, I did have military production for that planet. Anyway, my time ran out and I could be getting the game this Sataurday! It will be fun!