As a new player to the game, I'm finding mining to be especially confusing due to not knowing what certain commodities are. For example, while still in the starting zones, I got a mission to mine 2 Samarium. From the Pilot's Handbook, I know that I have to mine rings or asteroids, and I know the difference between rocky, icy, metal rich, and metallic. The problem is, what is Samarium? I had never heard of it before, so I did the following things before resorting to google/wiki:
1. Checked the trade routes in Galaxy map, but it didn't show up under any grouping since Samarium isn't supplied by any stations.
2. Checked the Codex, but there were no commodity entries
3. Checked the system map, but was only able to confirm which types of rings/asteroids there were.
Without knowing that Samarium is a metal, I had to google the answer or start mining randomly until I found some. A prospector limpet would have helped, but I'd still be picking systems at random.
My suggestion for improving the new player experience is to have the full list of commodities in the galaxy map, so the classifications are known, and we can search for systems where they can be sold without 3rd-party sites. Or, at the very least, have a codex section for entries about commodities once you've found at least one (similar to materials, though their entries are listed outside the codex).
1. Checked the trade routes in Galaxy map, but it didn't show up under any grouping since Samarium isn't supplied by any stations.
2. Checked the Codex, but there were no commodity entries
3. Checked the system map, but was only able to confirm which types of rings/asteroids there were.
Without knowing that Samarium is a metal, I had to google the answer or start mining randomly until I found some. A prospector limpet would have helped, but I'd still be picking systems at random.
My suggestion for improving the new player experience is to have the full list of commodities in the galaxy map, so the classifications are known, and we can search for systems where they can be sold without 3rd-party sites. Or, at the very least, have a codex section for entries about commodities once you've found at least one (similar to materials, though their entries are listed outside the codex).
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