So I have a mess of questions based on a recent build -- which includes the manual, so don't give me any of that RTFM guff! -- and I figured maybe some of you beta testers or even someone from Ironclad could help a fella out.

1) I'm a bit confused about how Trade Ports and Refineries work. Do they simply spawn cargo and refinery ships, which flit about earning me money and resources? Or does it matter where and how many I build? For instance, if I've got a juicy ice planet with four crystal mines, will building a refinery here help my crystal income more than if I'd build it at, say, an asteroid providing metal? Similarly, the manual implies I need at least two Trading Ports to make money. Should I be building these at a maximum distance from each other, in pairs? Does distance from capital matter? Because based on the manual and the otherwise excellent tooltips, I can't tell how I'm supposed to be using these buildings.

2) Having only played two of the races, I see a lot of undocumented stuff in the tech trees. What are long range jumps? Because upon researching this tech, I didn't see any difference in how my ships travelled. And worm hole stabilization sounds good and well, but I didn't see any worm hole traveling as near as I could tell. Also, one of the advanced techs reduces the mass of my ships. Okay, great. I'm all for mass reduction! But, uh, what does it do in the game?

3) So one planet has a crown-looking icon. That's my capital. So far, so good. Another planet has a sort of caret underneath it. Except in the empire tree, the caret is at the 45 degree position. What's that supposed to mean?

4) I see a lot of possibility in setting my fleets on Hold Position and then carefully using individual elements, such as carriers and missile ships. Is there any way to set facing for formations, because it would help for those of us who want to try some tactical min/maxxing?

5) I love hotkeys! Love 'em! I can't get enough of 'em! So, is there a hotkey to collapse or expand all the pins on the empire tree? I want one.

6) Planets with a porous core have a gravity well radius of -33%. Not that I can tell. Is this working, or am I misunderstanding what the red 33% means?

Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions, because I'm playing the daylights out of this thing. Awesome work, Ironclad!

-Tom