Hello everyone.  Just found this game and bought it, have heard great things, so hopefully I won't be to bothersome in trying to sort out how to play.  My primary question in this post has to do with the different options to run the game under.

I see a Campaign with three different options and it looks like this is a scenario type situation where you move through a storyline and pursue the objectives, is that right?

After that am I to assume that most people just play a "New Game" or load up a saved game, and then try to achieve a certain victory condition?  Is there a big difference between New Game's and the Campaign set up?  I normally like to play things like campaign's but I would think that just running a "new game" would probably help me learn the game and interface's best up front, so any input on the differences would be appreciated.

I'm not necessarily looking to create a new race or anything like that, I will be happy to just learn the game in whichever form, I'm just trying to sort out the differences.  Are there any big gameplay differences between campaign and new game?  If I create a ship, is it available in each?  Thanks in advance for any insights you all might have.