On this page:

4.2.1 Which way is north?
4.2.2 Can I see the current objectives in-game?
4.2.3 Can I hide trees or buildings from view?
4.2.4 What can hotkeys be assigned to?
4.2.5 Is there a list of short-cut keys?
4.2.6 How does scoring work?
4.2.7 Can I give orders while paused?

4.2.1 Which way is north?

From Hakea: "North/South puzzled me for a few minutes too, as it doesn't line up with the map edges as you'd expect, but with the edges of the screen. But you'll kick yourself once you see the compass - it's a huge black/grey thing with a North spike at the top, that takes up the whole centre of the map. Oddly enough it's still easy to miss."

4.2.2 Can I see the current objectives in-game?

Yes. Select help (small '?' on the bottom bar or press F1), and then select the check-box icon. Current objectives are shown, along with a tick-box. A tick indicates the objective has been met, an empty box means the objective has not been completed. You can also read the text from the video sequences here. If you can only see and not hear, this will help you understand the plot.

4.2.3 Can I hide trees or buildings from view?

No, not without deleting them completely, which is not always an option. When fighting in woodland, entire armies tend to disappear from view, while streets in large cities may never be seen again...

4.2.4 What can hotkeys be assigned to?

Custom hotkeys (Crtl + 0-9) can only be assigned to groups of ships or units. You cannot assign them to buildings or locations. 'H' can be used to jump (cycle) between colonies, however this will always focus on the same spot. 'J' can be used to jump to the location of an event that has been reported, such as a battle or fire.

4.2.5 Is there a list of short-cut keys?

Yes. It can be found in the manual and in the game's readme.txt file. This is an important reference for things like game speed, which cannot be changed using the mouse. The expansion pack adds the key command 'V', plant fields around active farm, and '-', display statistics screen.

4.2.6 How does scoring work?

H3ck|0 writes: "I don't know any formulas... but the Scoreboard is falsified by buffer overflows. I think at 65,535 for any value the game starts counting at 0 again. So this scoreboard doesn't say anything."

4.2.7 Can I give orders while paused?

No. The best option is to change the game speed to half speed (press F8).