Lots of potential spoilers below.  To be nice to newcomers, I've colored all the spoilers in the same color as the background of this post.  Highlight 'em to see them.  Hopefully no-one changes the yaBB's colors anytime soon.  =/

Its 2158.  The Korh-al are on the march.

- Isn't that a bit early?  I may not know; I usually don't let it get to that point.

My hippy bird allies have apperantly all died.  My Spathi allies have barricaded them in their world-shield.

- Nothing you can do about either of those right now[color=2F2F4F], though the Pkunk thing may pop up again later if you did the Sofixti and Yehat deals correctly.[/color]  Move on.

My only functional allies are the piq-rat-nik or whatever they're called, and their ships are not that usefull.  As far as I can tell there are about 1000 humans left alive and free in the entire galaxy.

- Zoq-Fot-Piq.  There's a lot more alien races that will ally with you than that.  You've apparently missed a lot of side-quests.

There doesn't seem to be much left to do in this game.

I have gone to Opuchi sector to investigate the Ur-quann's "talking pets", and though I didn't scan every single planet, there does not seem to be anything to do there.

- Not sure about that whole thing; Opuchi isn't on my list of "important planets".  Who told you to go there?

I have travelled to every word between the piq-rat-nik and epsilon muskaye in an attempt to locate the source of the spinning red drones, with no results.

- Talk to the Melnorme to find their source; [color=2F2F4F]it's a bit far from where you're searching.[/color]

I have whined incessantly at the Yehat but they won't help me.

- [color=2F2F4F]You need the Shofixti before doing this.[/color]

The drudge will help me but the cost in lives is too high.

- There's other things you can trade with them instead of tossing your crew to the pits.

On the advice of the late hippy birds I have surveyed the Draconis cluster in search of a precursor artifact, but found nothing remarkable (save a rainbow world).

- Keep searching.  They were telling the truth, and you're in the right cluster, but you apparently missed it.

On the advice of the piq-rat-nik, I have surveyed the Orion cluster for psi emenations, but found nothing.

- That's Umgah space, and once again you're searching in the right cluster, [color=2F2F4F]but I wouldn't do this part of the game until you've done one other part first, or you'll just get yourself murdered.[/color]

I have traveled to Gorno in a vain search for the shofixti.

- You're in the right place.  [color=2F2F4F]One of the Gorno systems has a lone Shofixti guy having fun all by himself.  Keep looking for him.  After you talk to him, there's more regarding the Shofixti you gotta do before they're joining your fleet.[/color]

I have two precursor artifacts that only make farting noises.

- There's a lot more devices you can get than that.

The only quest I have sucessfully completed is lifting the seige of my puq-rat-nik allies by a ur-quan ship.  This I did by leaving immediately.  In general are the leads I get time-sensitive?  Or are they just mostly bum steers?

- None are time-sensitive, besides the fact that the entire game has a sort of time-limit.  Like wake said, talk to the Melnorme.  Pay for information on current events; they will give you a lot of information that's pretty heavily detailed and will steer you in the proper courses.

Don't feel bad if you couldn't find this all early enough.  Unfortunately, that is a bit too late in the game to be attempting to do all these side-quests now.  You may need to start over.

But, anyway, the Korh-Ah won't win until sometime in the year 2160

Unless you're REALLY taking your sweet time, like I did the first time I ever played this game, and I got whomped on long before that.  :E

Thrusters increase your ship's speed.  Attitude Jets let you turn faster.  This works for both in battle and outside, when flying in Hyperspace or inside a solar system in Truespace.  Just stock full on both of those and you'll be set.