As per the original game manual:
Drag the map, looking for the perfect starting spot. Once you find a good starting spot with lots of planets, click to drop your wormhole there, then click and drag to launch probes and explore. Every planet type can be put to use in a variety of ways.
Click on a planet and select an option from the drop-down menu to colonize it. Your economy runs on trade. Pick industry types so that one planet makes what another one needs. Then, connect them with slipways by dragging from one to the other.
Take good care of your planets. A planet that has unsatisfied needs earns less money and produces less resources. These penalties all go away once you provide everything the planet needs. The planet upgrades to content and its production increases.
A planet accepts any amount of a resource it needs. Once it has 2 imports and 2 exports, it upgrades to prosperous. Prosperous planets earn more and make more resources. Once a planet gets 3 imports and 3 exports, it upgrades one last time to rich. Production does not increase further, but trade income does.
Some planets develop additional needs after you fill the basic ones. People crave goods, and farms need organics to fertilize them. If you’re unsure about anything, clicking a planet or structure will give you a report on how it’s doing.
To get more planets, explore further by sending probes from anything connected to your slipway network. Once you have an economy going, build a lab and start making science. To build labs and other structures, drag them in from the bottom-right corner.
Each lab needs people to work in it and a resource to work on. Connecting more of the same resource increases the lab’s science output.
To research technologies, click the bulb in the top-left corner. Labs give discounts for technologies using the matching resource.
Technologies are divided into four levels. You can research a limited number of technologies on each level before your scientists move on.
The game lasts 25 years. Colonization takes three months, building slipways and exploration take one. Most other actions take two. If you’d like to advance to the next year manually, click the clock in the top-right corner.
Your score is based on the number and quality of your planets, your population, and how many technologies you have. The final score is multiplied by the empire’s happiness.
Planets with unsatisfied needs carry big happiness penalties. On the other hand, prosperous and rich planets have a positive effect. Some planet types and structures influence happiness directly. Try to pick your starting planets so that you can form a cycle, with each planet supporting the next.
Some planet pairs can supply each other, making money both ways. Use this to your advantage.
Once you get to 30-40$ income, start looking for a good place for a lab to kickstart your research.That’s it! Time to build your own star empire!
Game Controls: Right Mouse Button / Arrow Keys / SDFE – Drag the map
