Can all the nice and kind gurus give me some tips?

I'm not a guru, but as for the game mechanics... Resource bases increase the relevant ability score(s), which applies to your entire empire. Enemy planets systems -- select the system, and you should see a list of ships in orbit represented by tiny icons just as you would see ships in orbit if it were your own system. The survey ships, when they stumble into the clouds, do get bonuses to your racial ability score -- e.g. when it says "increases foo by x%" it's not talking about just that ship. It's the "space junk" -- ship parts spinning around -- that boost only the ship, while the assorted colored clouds boost abilities / give your research points, and asteroids give ships. And yes, ships can have maintenance costs...

Hmmm, thanks for the help, another Q...does war effect Morale?

Also, do you guys use the propaganda slider anytime?

Definately use the propaganda slider, but on an ad-hoc basis. You'll more likely need to use this on your planets that are near the outskirts of your empire or those that are adjacent to a civilization that has strong influence/culture. You'll want to increase propaganda on those colonies more often than colonies that are well within your borders. This is a better alternative to trying to increase unnecessarily your entire empire's morale (perhaps by reducing taxes) when only a few plantets are the problem.

-Anx

Build transports and load colonists onto them when your planets get overcrowed. That helps morale. Transport ships dont have maintenance costs (at least up to v1.02 they dont.)Just park em until you need them to invade your enemies planets. Propaganda should help planets with low morale but I use as a stop gap measure...until I can build morale improvements.
Ypur transport ship, after getting defense and offense bonuses can become one of YOUR BEST MILITARY SHIPS. At least in early to mid game. Dont waste it. Go and grab every darn anomoly you can find.
I am not sure if war affects morale, Good question. I do know I feel ok about it when my govt votes overwhelmingly in favor of it. (Box pops up whenever you want to attack an AI ship or system.)
Dont disband scouts when no longer needed. TRADE or SELL them to the other races! However, even after everything is scouted, its not a bad idea to leave some parked in the other guys territory so you know whats going on there.
Have fun.
Cheers.

Let's see...

1) starbases over resources (e.g., the one you have +5 morale on, etc.), when mined, always affects the whole empire; there are modules for starbases that only affect things in the sector (and yes, what you said is what a sector is).

2) if you click on the planet, the lower right hand corner should show you what ships and how many are orbiting the planet.

3) it depends on what your needs are. if you need money fast, then closer systems may be the way to go. if you want to just bolster your income in the long run, farther planets may be your choice. you also have to consider which race you want to "side" with, because the destination planet gets benefits too, and if you want to declare war against that race, the trade route goes away...

4) if you click the i on the menu below while having the survey ship selected, a sub menu comes up with orders. select auto survey and the ship will move on its own, hitting any anomalies and debris within sight. these things give bonuses, like 1% to research, etc. it also bolsters the survey ship with combat bonuses. lastly, as you said, it sometimes finds extra ships. on the whole though, it is used to recon the sectors in the early game for habitable planets.

5) certain ships have maintenance. constructors, if i remember correctly, do not have maintenance. their stat sheet should tell. in your economy tab you can also see the total amount of maintenance you are paying for military.

6) a lot of people put them on transports to either colonize (colony ship for those heh) or invade. otherwise, you manage morale by building structures that improve morale.

War does not affect morale, i don't think. as to the propaganda slider, yes use it, but on a case by case basis. for me, if i cannot raise the morale of a planet above 40% with the upgrades i'm giving it, i pump up the propaganda. i definitely do it if my planet is on the verge of revolt or is unhappy.

Thanks for all the help!

Most of this has been answered already, but I'll give my best answers anyway:

1) Mined resources benefit your entire empire.

2) Click on the planet. In a window just up from the bottom right corner, it will show the ships in orbit around that planet. You can click on each of the ships to get their exact stats.

3) Depends on the map. I like to establish my first two trade routes with my nearest major empires, since they won't be as disposed to declare war on me then. However, later in the game I usually shift my trade routes to all go from my best econ planet to the nearest minor civ that isn't in any danger of defecting and/or being conquered. A short route there has the benefit that trade-enhancing starbases have a greater effect. In fact, in my current game, I'm funding my entire empire off of 9 trade routes to one minor civ (I've got 9 +50% starbases in every sector).

4) As mentioned above, if your survey ship finds enough space junk, it will be your best ship for quite some time. My current survey ship has an attack of 43 and defense of 123, with just over 120 hitpoints.

5) Yes, most ships cost money to maintain. Don't disband scouts, sell them to other civs. You won't get much for scouts, but it won't hurt you either.

6) Your population stops growing when your morale reaches about 57%, at which point your morale isn't really hurting, as you should be able to carry any elections, shouldn't suffer from defections, etc. If your morale dips below 50% when you haven't raised taxes, odds are someone is destabilizing you, and you should use propoganda to fight it (or crush whoever is destabilizing you).

Freighter question: Send them FROM rich planets TO rich planets, far away is good, but there is one thing that is even more important:

Freighters are also an insurance policy. Send them to those that you feel are threatening. They will be far less likely to attack you, because of the income.

How to stop growth: Raise your taxes.

Propaganda: Don´t use it too much, it costs money. Raise your taxes in time, so that your population doesn´t grow so much, this will GIVE you money.

High taxes never hurt anybody; I mean, any Empire, that is. LOL

A propos Empire: Join G.R.O.S.S., the friendly, Evil Empire next door.