Newcomer / Intro Need a Little Direction

[camelpockets]

So I just hopped into this game today, and I feel like there's too much for one little guy to do. Just overwhelming.

Is there anything I need/should first before aimlessly traveling from place to place?

 

[Zeeman]

Find a mission to take something to somewhere close. It'll get you some money, build a little rep with the local faction, and expose you tot he big bad world.

Don't be afraid to leave your "home" system. There's probably nothing really there for you that is any better than anywhere else.

If you get into a fight - don't worry, you are just starting. Replacement Sidewinder is free, and worst case, just wipe and start again...

Z...

 

[Sargon]

Hi, welcome to the forums and to ED.

Don't let it overwhelm you... it's a huge galaxy and that feeling is normal though.

Start by taking a point to point delivery mission... some missions may even be within the same system from one station to another.

 

[Araviel]

if you feel you need a little bit of direction i think the bulletin board is a good place to start.
i recommend starting whit a few light cargo run missions, they will send you on some short trips and that can be a good way to get your bearing and get to know your surroundings.

 

[Hellhawk666]

Always perform a basic discovery scan in every system, and if the main star is unexplored then detail scan it. This is free money and only takes a few seconds.

 

[camelpockets]

Always perform a basic discovery scan in every system, and if the main star is unexplored then detail scan it. This is free money and only takes a few seconds.

So dumb question... I seen the basic discovery scan thing chillin in my inventory, but is that simply automatic? Just target and look at the thing and wa-la? Or is there more to it than that?

 

[Jon Jaymes]

Yes, it's automatic for scanning whatever astronomical body you are targetting, when in range. However, it's a good idea to add it to a fire group in the right hand side panel; but obviously not the same one as your weapons, so you can 'fire' it. The basic acnner has a range of 500 ls, the intermediate 1000ls and the advanced the entire system.

 

[Araviel]

So dumb question... I seen the basic discovery scan thing chillin in my inventory, but is that simply automatic? Just target and look at the thing and wa-la? Or is there more to it than that?

you only need to use it to find out if there is any stellar objects you can explore.
for example if you come into a new system and all you see is a star, use it once to see if there is any close by planets orbiting that star. simply map it to a fire group and hold in your primary/secondary fire button (depending on your firegroup setting) until the scan is done. it should tell you if it finds any new stellar bodies.
if it does then you can target them in your nav panel and they will be flagged as "unexplored"
to further explore them all you need to do is fly close enough while pointing your ship at your target until it changes from "unexplored" status to a name.

large systems might require multiple scans whit the D scanner, but most of the times you only need to use it once.

 

[Hellhawk666]

The range of the basic scanner is 500LY so it will find almost all asteroid rings and close-in planets. You may miss half the system or more, however, if you don't go exploring further out. It will also usually not reveal stars other than the main star in the system, as with the exception of close binary systems the other stars orbit or co-orbit at a considerable distance - 10s to 100s of LY out.

The intermediate scanner has a range of 1000 LY, and the advanced scanner finds everything. This can be an astonishing difference, sometimes, as the main star is not always the one with the largest number of satellites. Eg I surveyed one system near Ethgreze as thoroughly as I could with a basic scanner. I found about a dozen planets and asteroid clusters, and I knew there were two distant stars but they didn't come up on the nav panel. When I went back later with an advanced scanner it discovered the location of the stars plus an extra 58 celestial bodies!

 

[DBCloggy]

I would definitely take any courier type missions where they supply any goods as this means you have no money to lay out in order to complete. I would also say not to take combat mission early on as you can get frustrated finding the targets and you are likely to be killed anyway.

If you want to bounty hunt then set yourself up in a system that has a resource extraction site as these places always have wanted targets. You must ensure that you scan them before opening fire though.

 

[camelpockets]

I would definitely take any courier type missions where they supply any goods as this means you have no money to lay out in order to complete. I would also say not to take combat mission early on as you can get frustrated finding the targets and you are likely to be killed anyway.

If you want to bounty hunt then set yourself up in a system that has a resource extraction site as these places always have wanted targets. You must ensure that you scan them before opening fire though.

The combat I'm not really concerned with. I've flown a bit of the Star Citizen Arena Commander thing, so adjusting to combat scenarios was a pretty easy slide for me. It's just the fact that the whole place is just so big... I didn't know where to start.
Thanks for the tips everyone!