Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having trouble.
and there has been no help forthcoming since I reported this in November.
Patrick did respond to you on the 27th (in the other thread) with what he thought may help (pending help with an update).
That said, to ensure you do have the most up-to-date core game files, please do a file verify:

If that fails, I would like to ensure that any UI / key binding / settings you may have edited are not the cause. In:
\Documents\My Games\Star Control
Delete the settings.ini and try to get to that point again without changing any of the default settings at all.
Let me know if any of those solve your issue.
Sean Drohan
Stardock Support Manager