This game is hard and unfair. I came into an asteroid field with no bounty. A player named Beerye in an eagle shot me down. I came back with just what I could afford, he shot me down again. I went to the outskirts of the field to continue getting resources. Then I saw another player named #51034 in ANOTHER EAGLE SHOOT ME DOWN. BeeRye then flew past me before this and I believe they were working together to make this game completely unfun for me. I wish there was a PvE element to this game. These mechanics favor those who only want to prey on others.
Your correct ELITE has always been hard and somewhat unfair.
But sit back take a rest..
Try coming back and taking baby steps.
Do the single player scenarios or the first few at least. just to learn the basic controls.
1st thing I would do in multilayer is practise docking. Launch fly out request docking and land again. do this till you are comfortable..
Don't worry about crashing and burning as you get a free replacement ship
Once you have that down fly around outside the station. get used to turning fast and practise combat manoeuvres. use the station as a point of reference, when you feel a bit braver make DUMMY attacks on ships flying round the station. but DO NOT OPEN FIRE! or ram them. after you pass them try turning back onto them as fast as you can.
When you feel happy with the basics then its time to go out into the black.
actual combat takes practise and patience.
There will be a lot of PvE but this is a very early unpolished build to test basic functions of trade and combat.
Kinda wish there were coms and non random server placement. Otherwise I would be more than happy to fly with you and have a play dogfight trying to keep on each others tail.
As for trading you should be somewhat safe but the sidewinder is not really a viable trader ship due to the tiny cargo hold. That does not mean you cant do it though. Just run when intradicted from frameshift. Put full power to engines throttle to 100% and keep using boost. you should be able to get away 9/10.