Please throw a newbie a lifeline

[mrbill80817]

Hi all. I was so disgusted with Moo3, I finally broke down and bought SEIV. (I'll worry about GalCiv later) I've played the tutorial through, and plinked around with several games.

But I've got to admit, I'm having a little trouble getting a feel for the game, and the "newbie" thread here and the extras and mods on the CD are hurting, not helping.

Can the regulars here point me to-

1) The most recent, comprehensive faq/walkthrough, minus the 19 pages of Q&A on the newbie thread, and

2) a good breakdown of the different mods and add ons, with recommendations on why I'd want to use this or that mod.

Thanks in advance for any help, and my apologies for what I'm sure are repeat questions. I've spent an hour wading through all of the SEIV info out there without even scratching the surface, so I figured I'd better just ask.