And asking the forums/this forum.
Ok, how on earth do I do the stuff that I mentioned in my previous post?
Ground troops: Economics window, GU training tab lets you train units. You need to research these in the Logistics/Ground Combat focus. Ground Units tab lets you view and manage troop activity. For the most part they're automated, unless you are attacking or moving into/out of PDCs, which have fairly obvious controls at the bottom of this tab. You can assign commanders in the "Commanders" window.
Trading is only relevant in terms of civilian shipping, which will automatically establish itself as you build colonies, and wil provide you with a modest amount of additional income.
As before, alien interacting = blowing them up, at least for now.
Ground combat is done with the Ground Units tab of the Economics window, with the little 'initiate ground combat' dropdown window. To do this you need to have forces on the same world as hostile ground units. You can build troop transports and use the Task Groups/Fleet Orders window to order them to pick up, transport and unload units.
Politics are nonexistant. You assign ship captains, colony governors and ground unit commanders through the Commanders window. You assign scientists to projects in the research tab. Each commander will have their own bonuses; try to assign them accordingly.