Let's see... my first taste of outpost was Outpost 1. I still play it now and again as it co-operates with my PC, mostly. When I first tried the Outpost 2 demo, I found it lacking, as it barely gave any instruction as to how to complete the demo mission (evacuating an Eden or Plymouth colony prior to a volcanic eruption) and little explanation of the gameplay mechanics. It wasn't until I was attempting to reinstall Lords of the Realm 2 that I saw an advert for Outpost 2 on the back of the Siege Pack's manual. I had heard decent things of it from another contact, and with my curiousity and sense of adventure on the move, decided to check OP2 out for the hell of it. I found OPU by sheer luck - though the link I followed was broken, I was not one to give up easily, and made my way to the main page, and then went after Outpost 2.
At first, without the manual or wiki to aid me, I found things... quite tough, actually. But I persisted. Eventually, over the scheme of the first few Plymouth campaign missions, a few Colony Games and a quarter-dozen Space Race skirmishes with a close friend, I picked up all the necessary mechanics and know-how to make the game (and my colonies) work relatively smoothly. I admit I still don't know the ins and outs of the tech tree, and I've only been playing for... two or three days, tops, but I managed to learn it quickly.
My plans here? Kick the wiki into gear and get it organized. It's a terrible mess and many pages are just blank and imageless. Maybe try my hand at some online games (I do not play very aggressively, so not exactly suited for Last One Standing) and/or map making.
I'm from the UK, and live in Cambridge. I prefer using Hamachi to play online as my router and firewall are a touch finicky.
'nuff said.