Dear God how do you play this game? I did the tutorials; felt confident, then boom! I die a lot. I am not even sure what faction I am! If there are any noob groups out there that would like to Sherpa me through the most basic concepts of the is game, hit me up. I think one day I would like to be an explorer. Wandering the vast void of space while listening to Wil Wheaton reads from "Ready Player One" sounds like heaven.
Come over to the
explorer's forum, then.
As for teaming up - well, the problem in that respect with explorers is that they are rarely in the same system as anybody else (unless they're on an expedition like Distant Worlds). I'm ATM on the way to RR Lyrae, doing
The Weaver And The Cowherd route as a shakedown cruise. Next, I want to do the obligatory trip to Sgr A*.
But back to your problems:
- did you do the first training missions, i.e. can you fly your ship, dock on outposts and dock in stations?
- do you have Horizons and can you land on planets in one piece?
- do you have a fuel scoop and do you know how to scoop?
Then, first of all, get out of the starter systems (and the next couple of systems or so). If you want to avoid the loving[1] attention of other players, you might want to switch to solo mode, or check out the Mobius group, at least for some time. I started off in solo, the switched to Mobius, then tried my hand at some PvE combat in a Vulture (boring...), now I got an
Explorer with teeth (probably useless against another player, but should be able to stand up against NPC interdictions) and dare to fly in open. Just haven't met any other CMDR yet... . But I'm an old fart, and my idea about enjoying a game doesn't include being shot down by vastly superior ships. Your mileage may differ.
Next, while you could go exploring in a Sidewinder, it's a challenge. So find a way to make at least a little money (with me, that was running basic courier missions) until you can afford a Hauler or an Adder - either makes a good exploration ship. Just keep in mind that setting any ship up for exploration can cost you several millions to get the equipment you'd want.
A minimum exploration Hauler could be something like
this.
But then, you could also upgrade it to something like
this - note the price. Those A-rated scoops and high powered scanners are expensive.... That still won't let you explore a planet, though - for that, you'll either need to sacrifice the shields or a scanner, or get a ship with at least five internal compartments.
[1]Just hoping you're old enough for that...
