How to get my friend past the first few hours

Muzz UK

Muzz UK
My friends mostly all play Elite Dangerous... some casual others hardcore. One of our friends often joins our discord but she only really plays shooters with us or single player games but stays in channel to be social. As we're always on Elite or talking about it she wants to try and get into the game so she can play with us.

She hasn't really played space ship flight games or flight sims previously so its a learning curve. She has an Xbox controller but happy to use keyboard and mouse. So far she's only dedicated an hour or two so learning to take off and travel places. She wants to learn Elite so she can play a game with us but she's very frustrated at the difficulty curve and overall speed of the game. My friends keep telling her its like riding a bike and once you break through that wall you'll be able to play and know if you like the game.

She would be ideal as a support player in a hull tank against Thargoids healing our shields n using limpets but just need to her to "get it" and start enjoying Elite.

Any tips? what would you guys do for someone who's a fairly decent level gamer, can play first person shooter games but hasn't never touched this type of game before? I've broken friends into the game before but doesn't seem to be working for her. She's no issue with grind having played SWTOR and WoW.

Normally with friends we get them to do the tutorial then meet up in game and get them to our home system and just coach them over discord.
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Don't use thargoids as first enemies. Way too tough and even for experienced players a real danger. One fumble in a beginner ship and bang rebuy. Nah.

Go take your friend to some high res and help her get some pew pew money to upgrade the ship a bit. Usually the reward effect will set in and she'll want more.
Or do some VOpal mining. Just a bit. So that a Vulture is possible. Then, slowly introduce engineers, best help with unlocks.
 

Fost

Fost
Elite LAN parties are actually great fun and really useful for new starters. Actually playing in the same room so you can help out with things is so much easier than online.

The new starter experience has improved this year but it's a complex game so...
 
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Stealthie

Stealthie
Trouble is, of course, that you can't assist her with the tutorials in the "newbie zone", which means she's either going to have to do that stuff alone or she's going to have to skip all that stuff and head out into the big wide galaxy where you can help her... or, I suppose, you could buy/reset an account yourself so you can go through the newbie stuff together.

If it was me, I'd suggest winging-up and doing some "fun stuff" together immediately; go shoot up some pirates in a RES or CNB or run a couple of missions etc.
If she's into it, go mine a bunch of VO's on your own then wing-up again, let her scoop a couple of them, tell her to go buy a Cobra with a Collector and a bunch of cargo holds (and limpets) then drop a bunch more VOs for her to collect so she can A-rate the Cobra.

Then, maybe, watch some YT videos covering all the newbie missions and then wing-up and do stuff to teach her all the same stuff the newbie missions would teach her.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Dommarraa said:
Do NOT take shortcuts, they will learn nothing, and be just as bored. Just bored and rich.
Click to expand...

Depends what you mean by "shortcuts" I guess.

Anybody who's started an alt-account has probably spent their first few hours of gameplay doing what's required to move up to a more durable ship so that they can start to play the game "properly".
You're not actally "learning" anything while you do that. You're simply repeating the same thing (cargo/data missions) to earn enough credits to buy a better ship.
Don't really see any harm in helping a newbie skip that phase of the gameplay.

Trying to do anything with a newbie who's flying a Sidey means, basically, that if they/you encounter any problems, they're heading for a rebuy.
Probably going to be a more pleasant newbie experience if you can help get them into a Cobra so they can learn stuff for themselves without getting exploded.


Oddly enough, I got started in ED in a very similar way (to what the OP is talking about).
A bunch of mates were already playing but they mostly just spent their time shooting stuff up in RES and CZs.
I joined in with that but quickly realised that I was going to have to play the game "properly" in order to build a ship that was good for the shooty stuff.

That is probably the part that's up to a new player to decide for themselves.
If they're just letting you give them stuff, show them stuff, or following your advice, they probably don't have the enthusiasm that'll be required to get into the game properly.
A newbie needs to realise that they're "on the bottom rung of the ladder" and they need to have the desire to climb it.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Multicrew? Let them fly a disposable fighter while you fight stuff, give them a bit of money as well for starting to fit out their own ship. That should give them chance to get the hang of the controls without needing to worry about fitting their own ship out.

Also lets you show them the trading, etc. side of the game and explain it as they see it from the co-pilot seat
 

CMDR Carbo

CMDR Carbo
I would say show her what you can do in ED, just the basic professions, and maybe there is something that she likes. If she wants to get the grip of it, then the best thing is she actually plays for a few hours for herself, and docking etc should be a breeze after that. The default layout for controllers are quite noob friendly, I played with a PS4 controller in the beginning and found it intuitive.
If you can wing up with your friend then go to a Res site to hunt some pirates, if you're taking most of the fire she should be fine. Do some road to riches to show her the exploration tools, I wouldn't send somebody onto an exploration trip out of the bubble if I don't know whether they would enjoy it, they might get stuck somewhere and never return.
Do some deep core mining, explain the mining tools.
After that she should have a basic overview of the game and also should be able to buy almost any ship she wants.
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Ian Doncaster said:
Multicrew? Let them fly a disposable fighter while you fight stuff, give them a bit of money as well for starting to fit out their own ship. That should give them chance to get the hang of the controls without needing to worry about fitting their own ship out.

Also lets you show them the trading, etc. side of the game and explain it as they see it from the co-pilot seat
Click to expand...
I seldom disagree with you, but multicrew is a bug ridden exercise in uselessness, and I strongly argue against letting any noob suffer from that 😅
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Bigmaec said:
I seldom disagree with you, but multicrew is a bug ridden exercise in uselessness, and I strongly argue against letting any noob suffer from that 😅
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This.

Multicrew probably should be a good idea, in theory, but it's just going to make a newbie think ED is a game that's still in beta.

Beyond that, MC isn't going to help a newbie learn much about the non-flying parts of the game; figuring out what missions to take, what cargo to haul, what upgrades to make etc.
They're going to have to do a lot of that stuff in their own ship, anyway, so MC is just going to add a peripheral activity.
 

Vasco Sapien

Vasco Sapien
Ive introduced 4 friends to Elite, they all quit.
I tried very hard to maintain their interest.
The bottom line is, ED is for some but not for all.
I have mates who swear by FIFA games, but there is no way i will play that garbage.

its about taste.

ED is MARMITE

511wecYq3fL._SY450_.jpg
 

mason4469

M
Ian Doncaster said:
Multicrew? Let them fly a disposable fighter while you fight stuff, give them a bit of money as well for starting to fit out their own ship. That should give them chance to get the hang of the controls without needing to worry about fitting their own ship out.

Also lets you show them the trading, etc. side of the game and explain it as they see it from the co-pilot seat
Click to expand...
^^^ This.

Multicrew is the best way to get a new player out and about with more experienced players without the worry of death/rebuy. The ship launched fighters offer many different styles and can introduce a new player to many different scenarios while still making money for upgrading ships/modules on their own ships.
 

cmdr_lumos

cmdr_lumos
I would say a must-have for any new player is the Advanced Docking Computer.

Unfortunately, docking is far more delicate and frustrating than it should be at the very start of the game, yet it is literally the first step one takes. Just let the ship land and launch itself. In doing so, your friend should be more free to enjoy the first trips she takes.
 

BlackSpaceCowboy

BlackSpaceCowboy
This game is very niche. You need a very high tolerance for convolution and obscurity to play this game. I remember how incredibly frustrating it was learning to play this game. And once you figure it all out, you have to deal with the convoluted Engineers mess. It's also a massive time hog.
 
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