I have the game. It's not that much of a builder, and neither is GalCiv. All you have is a few buildings, and a tech-tree to develop things (ships buildings etc).
The game(s) are combat focused, but there are planetary things to watch out for. Happiness, environment etc etc, it's not much if you are looking for a "building" game.
Naturally you can take a diplomatic path to win, but it's not very satisfying, and you still will need to develop battle ships etc to protect your planets.
I would suggest having a look at Light of Altair.
I personally LOVE Armada 2526, it's an outstanding game.