Horemheb

Ofcourse one solution is as follows: Each new planet will have a time when the colonizers are "terraforming" the planet more suitable for human (alien) life. During this time the population growth is halved and the colony maintenance is raised a lot. The time might be dependant on how much population there is on the planet. What does this accomplish? You can't afford to colonize too many planets before your economy can handle it.

A good way to learn the game is to save the game at the first turn. Play it out, see what happens. Then load the save, try a different strategy. And I mean really different. You might want to try to build up your military as fast as possible. Or you might want to try playing diplomatically. Try something crazy. Don't allocate any money on research after universal translator. Buy and trade your tech. See what works. See what you like. Start