Are there any guides available covering basic strategy/gameplay/etc so that I don't get 5 or 20 hours into my first game and realize I need to restart because I massively screwed something up?

Hi there,

There's a wiki for the game (not sure when it was last updated).

http://horizon.gamepedia.com/Horizon_Wiki

There's also a tutorial in the game.

It's important to know that there are two major options:

1) Normal (or story mode): the humans are very weak as the race start at different levels of tech. In that mode, Humans are the last to join the conquest of the galaxy...it can be difficult (thus it's better to start on easy) and the best is to follow the stories and quests.

2) Classic: it's like in most 4x games, all races start at the same level. But even here, i'd recommend to start on easy because the AI is really good.

If you have any questions, just ask.

I started a game on the defaults - story mode, missions, and tutorials. I'm not sure what the default difficulty is because I can't find the setting to change it. (Is it hidden, or am I blind?)

Thanks for the pointer to the wiki, there were a few things there I hadn't figured out yet. It doesn't appear to have what I was looking for.

What I was looking for is on the line of:

1) How fast should I be colonizing? As fast as I can spam colony ships out, or limited to a max rate of [something] to avoid crushing my economy.

2) What should my colony build orders look like? Generic planets everywhere? Specialized planets only to claim a bonus? Specialized everywhere? Does planet size factor into this decision? If specialized what sort of mix between types? Are the governors default build orders good enough to use, or should I be doing things manually?

3) Research priorities?

4) Ship design and combat?

5) When do I need to start building up my military?

When you launch the game the first time, you should see the option to select the difficutly. I can't recall but maybe it's set on easy for the tutorial. I'd go for easy next time to start. I've been playing the game a lot but still get beaten by the AI...and i should keep in mind the things it tell you here.

1) Imho, you shouldn't be too fast. Because if you extend too much, you'll have a hard time to defend your colonies. The AI is very good at sending troop ships. It's therefore important to have ships in orbit of your planets. It's also crucial to build up ground troops on every planet you have.

2) What i like in this game is that not every planet has the same importance. The biggest planets are your core planets as you can developp them a lot and the different levels of infrastructures make a huge difference. Planets with bonuses, especially if they are small, should be developped in that direction (mineral rich - industrial, science bonus - scientific world). I usually build the first structures of every building on every planet (only 100 mc) in order to cover the basic needs. I specialize after. You'll be limited at the beginning anyway as the next levels of buildings are very expensive and you'll have to build up a fleet (which is not cheap either).

3) Important: you can focus research on one science field and in any science field you can focus on one specific research. I usually start with logistics and communication as well as diplomacy improvements. Maybe i should focus on weapons instead and ground troop techs first...

4) Every race has it's strengh (laser, beams etc) and i would focus on them first. Make sure to have enough troop transports.

5) Now...

Don't forget to bring back your colony ships where you have a space station so they can be refitted. You can colonize the entire galaxy with one colony ship if you want.