And when you do make your first
Colony Ship, make sure you send it to a world which is at least 60-80% Terraformed. You'll see that in the planet's stats. And it takes like 6 hours till your colony world traces 100Mu population, so don't set up your first new cony near Someone you know to be hostile. A new Colony has 120k Common Ore on it, so its ripe
For the picking.