Newcomer / Intro Frustrated!

Krusty

Krusty
I am totally new to this, like so many.
I started off in a odd outpost thing, I messed around with the docking and landing training and that was fine.
I looked at the base menus and could see nowhere that I could trade commodities.
So I left with empty hull. Ive fiddled about a bit zooming here and there in space and now I have no idea what to do.
I tried to dock, requested permission, flew in, bounced off the pad a few times, I had gear down etc but it just would not land so I flew out, got permission once more and tried again. After failing again to land, despite sitting on the pad I gave up and flew off into space again...
So now here I am sitting looking at a fat gas planet in the middle of nowhere wondering when I will run out of fuel.
Where is the complete idiot guide?
I need a "press this to do that" kinda thing.
I also need it without jargon as I have no idea what any of the acronyms mean.
Do I have a restart option?
 

Pyelot

Pyelot
Krusty said:
I am totally new to this, like so many.
I started off in a odd outpost thing, I messed around with the docking and landing training and that was fine.
I looked at the base menus and could see nowhere that I could trade commodities.
So I left with empty hull. Ive fiddled about a bit zooming here and there in space and now I have no idea what to do.
I tried to dock, requested permission, flew in, bounced off the pad a few times, I had gear down etc but it just would not land so I flew out, got permission once more and tried again. After failing again to land, despite sitting on the pad I gave up and flew off into space again...
So now here I am sitting looking at a fat gas planet in the middle of nowhere wondering when I will run out of fuel.
Where is the complete idiot guide?
I need a "press this to do that" kinda thing.
I also need it without jargon as I have no idea what any of the acronyms mean.
Do I have a restart option?
Click to expand...

Don't do the commodaties stuff in training missions.

You should see them in a station that has a market available once you are playing in OPEN mode or SOLO mode.

Not all stations have Commodity markets.

I think the starting station you are in does not have commodity market.

You can check the Galaxy Map, then choose System map, then look for the station that you are on.
click on it
and a List of what services are available will appear on the left
 
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RobinsonUK

R
The sitting on the pad thing - yes, it's not intuitive at all and had me flummoxed for quite a while when I first tried it. Your ship has to be oriented correctly. You can't just land on the pad, you have to be on the pad facing forwards with respect to the model of the ship on the HUD you get when you hover over the pad.

Also yes you have a restart option. You can "clear save" in Options, which means start over.
 

Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
Ozric
Hi Krusty, don't worry, this is a bit of a steep learning curve.

You do have a restart option as you can clear your save from the main menu, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you get yourself into real trouble :) If you run out of fuel you can self-destruct your ship rather than clearing your save.
The first Outpost you start in will more than likely not have a Commodities Market, you can tell as it will be on the main Station Service menu. There should be more than 1 station in the system and so if you look at your Navigation Panel (default key is 1) you should see a list of the planets and stations in your system (as well as other systems). If you look at the bottom left of that panel you'll see System Map, if you go in there you can see the information on all the objects in your system and thereby find a station with a Commodities Market.
With docking it could be either you were at the wrong pad, or sometimes there was a bug where your landing pad would be reversed. When you get close enough to the Landing Pad you should get a guide appear where you scanner is to guide you in to dock, if you ship is not facing forwards on that guide, you need to turn 180 so it is (if it is the bug).

Here's a brilliant Pilot's Guide for you, it is rather indepth :) I'll link to this thread and you can download it from there
 
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Gimley

Gimley
Landing is like was said, make sure orientated with the pad, once you approach i find thrusters are best to position ship over the pad, once you are close a beeping sounds and the monitor shows the ship and position (orientation too) to pad, you may see the ship facing down your screen which means you are 180 degrees off and will never engage the locks on landing.

It is worth practicing this as once you master it you also master the thrusters and wow the game sure opens up ;)

It is amazing but does take a few attempts to practice..... oh never fire booster inside the station either, this would be unfortunate!
 

Krusty

Krusty
Thanks for the tutorial link, I am about to start to use it.
I have found myself at an extraction site now watching a lot of combat between pirates and Fed security.
I have no idea what I can extract here or how, hopefully the link will provide the answers.
Then If I manage to extract anything I hope it will tell me what to do with whatever I get...
 

cygnusa

cygnusa
Keep plugging at it. The flight controls definitely have a learning curve. Once you get it down and have a good feel for it, you'll be zooming into stations and dropping right down onto those landing pads with minimal effort. Don't worry about being slow and careful as you become accustomed to how it works. I bashed my ship into the innards of space stations on more than a few occasions when I started out! I still sometimes do when I become overly zealous to get to a destination. LOL

All stations have a Bulletin Board. From there you can acquire various missions. The mission list can vary, and it can improve as your reputation improves with the station and overall faction. Not all stations have a commodities market. Even fewer have a black market (for selling stolen/acquired goods).

If your starting station doesn't have a commodities market..

Go to System Map and look for stations. Select and review the info pane on the left side. It will show what services a station offers. commodities, outfit, shipyard, etc. If there is no such station, jump to a nearby system and find one. Starting out, you'll want to run missions to nearby stations and systems for cash as well as to get a look at their commodities markets. Keep track of what is bought (high demand) and what is sold (high supply). If you can mix/match a few systems you can set up a trade route for profits. I suspect before long the community will have tools to aid in trade available for use.

A bit of beginner advice. Try to build up and keep a base cash supply on hand. It will become important later to pay for ship insurance to replace your gear. Also should you go 'boom' with a boatload of commodities in your hold, they are lost. Basically go with the notion that your ship is always a potential loss. Be prepared to cover for both the ship's loss, and a nest egg to pull from to get trading going again. Though.. weigh the dangers. I've 'bet the farm' on more than one occasion. Spending all my cash on a large haul gold through a few relatively safe systems, for example. Luckily I made it to the destination and didn't lose it all. With a somewhat better and upgraded ship, risk-taking should be more measured and deliberate.

Example:

1 mil in the bank and a well equipped Cobra with a replacement cost of 100,000 credits. One is relatively safe. A ship loss, while very painful, would not knock you out of the game. If I had a 100,000 replacement cost ship with only 10,000 in the bank. A ship death would mean the loss of the ship due to inability to replace through insurance. Not only is the ship lost, but all invested into it. Such a scenario would effectively put one at square 1 in Sidewinder with a 10k bank account.

Hopefully my words make sense :) Have fun!
 

Mikie

M
Landing is hard

Heh as a total n00b on landing having to coordinate a stick with two throttle controls (throttle and vertical thrust) as well as rolling (pedals) and all the rest is hard... I have done about 15 traning landings so far and I have managed to land perhaps 5 of those. Right now I need a break because I am exhausted from just doing these landings...

It is really a shame that the docking/undocking training was not part of the combat demo, but considering that I am one of those nutjobs that thrive when things are hard I am already a happy customer even if I havent even started the actual game yet. I feel that I need to get a hang of the landing part before I sit my a** down in a "real" ship that can go boom.

Love it so far :D
 

Dead Fred

Dead Fred
I recommend finding a teamspeak like lave radio or Han solo's gamers cove and speaking to people there. LOTS of tips and information on how to play and how to make monies fast...

Always a bit of a task at the start but once you understand how to make a little money and know how to spend it to make more, it takes the grind right out of it...
:)
 
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William Blanchard

W
It's day one for me learning this game. I'm going through all the docking and landing tutorials with no real instructions. I just pause it, look into my options to learn the buttons, then unpause to try more. I figure muscle memory will help me remember the keys at some point :) I think the hardest thing for me is learning to be oriented. Keep at it though! Before you know it, you will be expert Cmdr at it.
 

TheDayman

TheDayman
Abandoned or not - anything you find floating in space (apart from mineral ore) is considered the property of others, and is hence marked as stolen. The lore is that there are dedicated electronic tags attached to each container indicating who the real owner is - for all you know, that owner could very well be on his way back to retrieve his cargo so mariner salvage laws do not apply.
 

Krusty

Krusty
Oh for goodness sake!
I didnt steal anything. Dumped it anyhow.
I guess I'll dump it, maybe when I get to the base there will be a mission I can run, assuming I can dock of course...
 

TheDayman

TheDayman
William Blanchard said:
It's day one for me learning this game. I'm going through all the docking and landing tutorials with no real instructions. I just pause it, look into my options to learn the buttons, then unpause to try more. I figure muscle memory will help me remember the keys at some point :) I think the hardest thing for me is learning to be oriented. Keep at it though! Before you know it, you will be expert Cmdr at it.
Click to expand...

Eventually you'll be able to land coming in fast and hot. You're right in that it's muscle memory. A while back Frontier had a "who can land the fastest" contest and some of them were pretty hairy.

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Krusty said:
Oh for goodness sake!
I didnt steal anything. Dumped it anyhow.
I guess I'll dump it, maybe when I get to the base there will be a mission I can run, assuming I can dock of course...
Click to expand...

The learning curve is steep, but the value of your time and effort is repayed 10 fold. Just remember, we've all been there before and there's plenty of veterans out there who are more then willing to help. This is a great community, but I'll put the warning out there don't always trust who you meet in game - not all of us are out to help newbies.
 
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