This does look beautiful, but I'm almost certain it won't click with me. Strategy games in pretty much any guise aren't my thing.
It will click
Build an 'army' carefully, send army to attack!
Don't build when expecting to be attacked soon or under a threat from a nearby big enemy.
Pick the planets with the best stats to get the best army guys.
Defensive plants do decent damage and look after your planets from a small invasion when you're out colonizing.
Never send your whole army first to an unknown planet, always investigate with one or two guys.
Don't stretch yourself too thin.
The game introduces mechanics (so you don't have to worry about all this straight away) and concepts very smartly and has tips you can use for each level if you are stuck, you can also change the difficulty (play setting) and even unlock later levels and modes/re-lock them whenever you want from the options. You can also play on normal speed for most of the time, only speeding it up (using the buttons in top-left) when you're set and waiting.
Last 2 tips:
Set beacons from big planets to smaller ones, so they don't reach their cap (40 army guys in one planet) and stop producing. - this way you get unlimited guys from the big planet, constantly pumping out dudes, at the expense of small planet (weaker guys) which stops producing after 40 guys (seedlings) are circling it.
Use crapper seedlings to build your trees, don't waste the good ones. You can sort between them in the bottom left after triggering send mode.
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Spelunky