Newcomer / Intro Brand "Spankin" New

[Romza]

Hello, i'm a new player... and when i say new.. i mean brand spankin new, first time seeing/Downloadin/playing. new i've looked through the forums (aka used the search feature) and still have a few questions on things before i play the game. so i'll list them here. and yes something are questions that are super dumb and easy to answer once you start playing... but these are things i want to know BEFORE i jump in.... i've made my CMDR character and that's it so far. before anyone asks, i plan to look at guides on gameplay and such once i've finished the in game tutorials

1.) what happens when you die in game?
2.) i've made my CMDR, am i able to change their looks later?
3.) can i only have one CMDR character?
4.) does your ship have a Radio?
5.) is it possible to play music in your ship or FC? (like through spoitfy, or pandora, or i<3radio, or youtube)
6.) what's the meaning of Life?
7.) i don't have VR can i still play and have a good time?
8.) why is the sky blue?
9.) is it easy to get motion sickness while playing? (VR and non-VR)

 

[Factabulous]

1.) what happens when you die in game?

You get resurrected. If you have enough money you can even keep your ship

2.) i've made my CMDR, am i able to change their looks later?

Yes - right panel - Holo Me

3.) can i only have one CMDR character?

Yes. Unless you buy another copy of the game

4.) does your ship have a Radio?
5.) is it possible to play music in your ship or FC? (like through spoitfy, or pandora, or i<3radio, or youtube)

No

7.) i don't have VR can i still play and have a good time?

Yes

8.) why is the sky blue?

It isn't always. Black is popular

9.) is it easy to get motion sickness while playing? (VR and non-VR)

No, but if you practice I'm sure you can manage it.

 

[Ashnak]

1b.: If you don't have the money (or want a fast trip back to the Bubble), you will be back in your free starter Sidey.

4./5.: If you're playing on PC, you can run whatever streaming/audio service you like. If you use open headphones (or seperate speakers) - like I do - you can run game audio from your PC and blast whatever you like through your stereo.

6. Liff (n.), A common object or experience for which no word yet exists.

8. https://cefrc.princeton.edu/sites/g...11 Lecture Notes/Alden/Lecture-7-Rayleigh.pdf

9. Depends, i.e. that's pretty much personal. In VR, it seems to get worse when the FPS drop. For myself, I never had motion sickness when playing pancake or in VR in the ship, but I can only stand half an hour of SRV driving tops.

 

[ethelred]

4/5 you can get a plugin to play music and ED related podcasts https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...-with-simulated-space-traffic-control.226782/ especially good for Logitech keyboards.

6. https://existentialcomics.com/

8. Refraction, but other colours are available.

 

[Romza]

You get resurrected. If you have enough money you can even keep your ship

Yes - right panel - Holo Me

Yes. Unless you buy another copy of the game

No

Yes

It isn't always. Black is popular

No, but if you practice I'm sure you can manage it.

oh that's good to know... i will keep that in mind... and not gonna practice.

1b.: If you don't have the money (or want a fast trip back to the Bubble), you will be back in your free starter Sidey.

4./5.: If you're playing on PC, you can run whatever streaming/audio service you like. If you use open headphones (or seperate speakers) - like I do - you can run game audio from your PC and blast whatever you like through your stereo.

6. Liff (n.), A common object or experience for which no word yet exists.

8. https://cefrc.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf1071/files/Files/2011 Lecture Notes/Alden/Lecture-7-Rayleigh.pdf

9. Depends, i.e. that's pretty much personal. In VR, it seems to get worse when the FPS drop. For myself, I never had motion sickness when playing pancake or in VR in the ship, but I can only stand half an hour of SRV driving tops.

oh so it's not like EvE online, where if you run out of money you're done.

4/5 you can get a plugin to play music and ED related podcasts https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...-with-simulated-space-traffic-control.226782/ especially good for Logitech keyboards.

6. https://existentialcomics.com/

8. Refraction, but other colours are available.

okay i'll look into that plugin. i'm planning on doing a stream series, in which i was hoping to be playing some music or listening to a podcase as i drift around in space... but i might wait till i've upgraded my computer a little and get a VR set, when i can afford one.

Oh i did think of another question while i was reading these... how are the "Police" in game? they aren't like the "Police" in EvE online are they? i hope not i had a super bad experience with that game and never gonna go back to it...

oh and one more thing.... is there voice chat in game?

 

[Ashnak]

In-game police would be the system authorities. It's.. complicated.

Populated space has jurisdictions. For most cases (but see below), people won't care about other jurisdictions - so you can be the villain in one system and saviour in another.
If you attack a ship, you will incur some decrease in your reputation from the faction this ship is aligned with.
If you kill a WANTED ship (i.e., you scan it and your scanner shows WANTED), then you will earn a bounty, to be redeemable at the office of the issuing faction (or an Interstellar Factor, for a small processing fee) as well as a small increase in reputation with that faction. Same goes for helping to kill a wanted ship, either in a wing (full share to all members) or when the wanted ship is already in a fight with NPCs only. If you kill a ship other players (CMDRs) have already softened up without being in the same wing as them, you will get the full credits and the others will get nothing. You usually will also become the next person on their list for kill stealing.
If you attack a non-wanted ship, you will become wanted yourself, and anyone - especially the police, i.e. system authority, will try to kill you. They're not especially good at this, though. If you try to land at a station with a local bounty on your head, you'll have to sneak in - if the station's patrol ships scan you, the station will shoot you. And those guns are not for show. You can pay off the bounty by turning yourself in (win a free trip to a prison ship) or at a non-local Interstellar Factor (for a small processing fee). Or if you get killed.
If you kill a non-wanted ship (or a ship you damaged dies while you're still in the instance), you'll gain notoriety in addition to the bounty. Notoriety decays slowly (IIRC 1 point per hour in-game). As a notorious CMDR, interstellar factors won't touch you. If you gain enough notoriety, you will a) get a superpower bounty on your head and b) attract the attention of the a specific police task force (forgot their name). These are somewhat better at killing you - but you do get a warning about their expected arrival time.

So, if you want to make a career out of killing non-wanted ships, stick to Anarchy systems/jurisdictions. Nobody will care there.

Also, the game has "combat zones" - those are for wars between factions. If you want to join such a war, enter the CZ and choose a side. Not choosing a side and starting to shoot at a ship will get both sides angry at you for spoiling their game. Oh, and CZ NPC ships are somewhat tougher and better equipped than your average ship you will see outside a CZ - it's a war after all. Killing ships in CZs earns you "combat bonds", which are redeemable at a different office. Isn't bureaucracy nice?

In-game voice chat exists. Sort of. Most people (at least all I've met) use Discord.

 

[Romza]

In-game police would be the system authorities. It's.. complicated.

Populated space has jurisdictions. For most cases (but see below), people won't care about other jurisdictions - so you can be the villain in one system and saviour in another.
If you attack a ship, you will incur some decrease in your reputation from the faction this ship is aligned with.
If you kill a WANTED ship (i.e., you scan it and your scanner shows WANTED), then you will earn a bounty, to be redeemable at the office of the issuing faction (or an Interstellar Factor, for a small processing fee) as well as a small increase in reputation with that faction. Same goes for helping to kill a wanted ship, either in a wing (full share to all members) or when the wanted ship is already in a fight with NPCs only. If you kill a ship other players (CMDRs) have already softened up without being in the same wing as them, you will get the full credits and the others will get nothing. You usually will also become the next person on their list for kill stealing.
If you attack a non-wanted ship, you will become wanted yourself, and anyone - especially the police, i.e. system authority, will try to kill you. They're not especially good at this, though. If you try to land at a station with a local bounty on your head, you'll have to sneak in - if the station's patrol ships scan you, the station will shoot you. And those guns are not for show. You can pay off the bounty by turning yourself in (win a free trip to a prison ship) or at a non-local Interstellar Factor (for a small processing fee). Or if you get killed.
If you kill a non-wanted ship (or a ship you damaged dies while you're still in the instance), you'll gain notoriety in addition to the bounty. Notoriety decays slowly (IIRC 1 point per hour in-game). As a notorious CMDR, interstellar factors won't touch you. If you gain enough notoriety, you will a) get a superpower bounty on your head and b) attract the attention of the a specific police task force (forgot their name). These are somewhat better at killing you - but you do get a warning about their expected arrival time.

so basicly... they are fast enough to once they know you're there? and if you attack someone that is not WANTED, they will come after you...but they aren't good at killing people

In-game voice chat exists. Sort of. Most people (at least all I've met) use Discord.

oh so like if i am just talking in game, anyone in the area can hear me or they have to be on the same channel as me in the area?

 

[aRJay]

Hello, i'm a new player... and when i say new.. i mean brand spankin new, first time seeing/Downloadin/playing. new i've looked through the forums (aka used the search feature) and still have a few questions on things before i play the game. so i'll list them here. and yes something are questions that are super dumb and easy to answer once you start playing... but these are things i want to know BEFORE i jump in.... i've made my CMDR character and that's it so far. before anyone asks, i plan to look at guides on gameplay and such once i've finished the in game tutorials

Always check how recently a guide was written and edited/updated the game has changed a lot over the years and older guides could be badly wrong.

1.) what happens when you die in game?

There is a rebuy screen where you can get all your stuff back given enough credits or you can optionally just accept the free Sidewinder and start over, if you want to be really hard core about it you can reset/rename your commander and start again from where you are now.

2.) i've made my CMDR, am i able to change their looks later?

Yes.

3.) can i only have one CMDR character?

Yes one per copy of the game but the only limit to that is how much money you have.

4.) does your ship have a Radio?

There are ways to communicate in game.

5.) is it possible to play music in your ship or FC? (like through spoitfy, or pandora, or i<3radio, or youtube)

Sort of you can play stuff in the background while your game runs but you will have to alt tab out of the game to control the music player.

6.) what's the meaning of Life?

42Life is playing Elite.

7.) i don't have VR can i still play and have a good time?

Absolutely

8.) why is the sky blue?

It was the cheapest colour available when the Magratheans built the Earth.

9.) is it easy to get motion sickness while playing? (VR and non-VR)

Getting motion sickness is claimed to be a lot easier with VR than with a normal screen, but being close enough to a big enough screen could also work.

The "police" are usually only an issue if you break the law, in fact for a new player they can be a great help in getting your combat career up and running.
Station traffic control on the over hand will blow you up for parking offences, dawdling and impose fines for causing damage whilst speeding.

 

[Codger]

Space is big. There is no one to talk to.

 

[Romza]

Space is big. There is no one to talk to.

In Space.... you can eat your hamburger however you want?

 

[Ashnak]

oh so like if i am just talking in game, anyone in the area can hear me or they have to be on the same channel as me in the area?

No. Voice chat in the game is one-on-one or wing (maximum of four).
Text chat can be either of the above, everyone in the instance or everyone in the system.

 

[Teiri]

Elite is quite forgiving. You got to keep some cash for a rebuy (couple of % of your ship and modules installed cost listed in your right hand panel, the remaining price is paid by your insurance) at all times - ok, ye, better a couple of rebuys - but otherwise you can press all the buttons, including those big red ones, and discover what they do by your experience. Running out of money is a very bad thing here as well, as you can lose your ship then, but it's easy to make money, so it's more a matter of don't forget or be careful thing.

Another thing worth knowing for a new player is that Elite settings, including keybindings, are stored in User\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments and your logs (you may later be intrested in viewing them) in User\Saved Games\Frontier Developments. Worth to back these up time to time. Your CMDR data are saved on FDev servers, so if you launch the game on another PC your progress stays, but better to bring those folders too.

 

[Romza]

Elite is quite forgiving. You got to keep some cash for a rebuy (couple of % of your ship and modules installed cost listed in your right hand panel, the remaining price is paid by your insurance) at all times - ok, ye, better a couple of rebuys - but otherwise you can press all the buttons, including those big red ones, and discover what they do by your experience. Running out of money is a very bad thing here as well, as you can lose your ship then, but it's easy to make money, so it's more a matter of don't forget or be careful thing.

don't forget.... yeah i'll have to keep an eye on my money.... though someone did say if you don't have enough you start back at the free ship. which i wouldn't say is a bad thing.

Another thing worth knowing for a new player is that Elite settings, including keybindings, are stored in User\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments and your logs (you may later be intrested in viewing them) in User\Saved Games\Frontier Developments. Worth to back these up time to time. Your CMDR data are saved on FDev servers, so if you launch the game on another PC your progress stays, but better to bring those folders too.

oh that's good to know, i'll have to make a copy of it or something.

one last question. is there a way to start over... i don't mean like a new game + i mean erase all progress so that you start back at the tutorials... example lets say i play the game and after hours apon hours of gaming and grinding.... i want to just start over... as if i made a new account and a new CMDR... with out making a new account and such...

 

[SlickPBW]

Welcome, CMDR!

 

[Teiri]

It can be a bad thing if you risk to lose an engineered ship - engi requires mats, sometimes a lot of them (they can be very valuable). Otherwise losing say your new D-rated Cobra that you just bought after a starter Sidewinder and never engineered yet is just about a little amount of money. You'll just see with time. Generally rebuy is about engi, not your ship's cost.

You can start over by clearing your save, which deletes your progress and everything. But why to do so, progress is worth being kept. Ppl that want to experience those new players xp usually just buy a 2nd acc - wait for a sale (like now, Horizons are 5 or so coins - is it still on or over, idk) and just get another acc. Up to you ofc, may clear progress, but i wouldn't if that's about these 5 coins that new acc costs.

Again you'll see with time how it all rolls. Tutorials are also should be accessible from the menu, if you want to do them again.

 

[ethelred]

don't forget.... yeah i'll have to keep an eye on my money.... though someone did say if you don't have enough you start back at the free ship. which i wouldn't say is a bad thing.

oh that's good to know, i'll have to make a copy of it or something.

one last question. is there a way to start over... i don't mean like a new game + i mean erase all progress so that you start back at the tutorials... example lets say i play the game and after hours apon hours of gaming and grinding.... i want to just start over... as if i made a new account and a new CMDR... with out making a new account and such...

If you're playing in VR (or plan to) then I'd highly recommend Voice Attack and a HCS Voicepack. With this you can command your ship using your voice (obvs!). You'll probably see that there are a million buttons so being able to give a voice command to lower landing gear, or request docking permission saves you potentially from mashing random buttons.

Separately, voice in game is a mixed bag.

If you link up with other CMDRs to form a "wing" then you're all in voice with each other, and the game adds a "Apollo 10" style filter to your comms. I quite like it but other CMDRs prefer to use discord or others.

You can open voice comms with other CMDRs too, but most won't accept random requests for voice (which is kind of a shame)

 

[Gibbon]

6. What is the meaning of life?

42

 

[aRJay]

oh that's good to know, i'll have to make a copy of it or something.

There are lots of threads about this but making a backup elsewhere of your bindings once you have them set to your liking is highly recommended you should also rename them and go into the bindings file and change the name in the second line to reflect the new name, the game reads that second line to identify the bindings file. Renaming the file avoids accidental overwrites which can happen. Note the game won’t find the right bindings if any control devices aren’t switched on and connected to the same ports at startup.

one last question. is there a way to start over... i don't mean like a new game + i mean erase all progress so that you start back at the tutorials... example lets say i play the game and after hours apon hours of gaming and grinding.... i want to just start over... as if i made a new account and a new CMDR... with out making a new account and such...

Yes the clear save option will do this, there are players who do this from time to time there are also some who do it every time they get sent to the rebuy screen it is called playing iron man.

 

[HurstLlama]

There can be a lot of satisfaction in playing in Iron Man mode. There can also be a lot of bad language. A couple of years ago I was out in the black happily exploring. I was thousands of light years out had racked up many first discoveries & earth like worlds. I had been out for more than a month of real time, flying every day. Then one afternoon I had to take a call & didn't properly exit the game. I was away maybe 10 minutes and came back to the rebuy screen. Even my wife of nearly 40 years was shocked by my swearing. I could afford the re-buy easily it was the loss of the exploration data & experience that hurt. But if you are playing Iron Man you are playing Iron Man, cleared my save & started again.