First, let me welcome you to the Elite: Dangerous Galaxy. My rule 2 is; Have Fun (it is just a game, but WHAT a GAME!). Rule 2a is; In VR have LOTS more fun!!!
The learning curve is so steep (it has an overhang!) that the mountain goats go around in teams, roped together (and even then they may fall off, but that means the Vultures get to eat!). However, when you master something, and do it well, the buzz is worth the effort. To my mind the most important skill to master is landing your ship. Until you can do this nothing else matters (how can you complete a mission, for example, if you killed yourself on landing?). It would be a good idea to go through some of the Training missions to start learning the necessary skills to survive.
Now, Golden Rule 1, which is; Never Fly if you cannot cover the REBUY. REBUY is the insurance excess on your ship, and is 5% of the value of your ship (including all upgrades, but not the cargo). Any changes you make to a ship will affect the REBUY. You can see what your REBUY is on the Status screen (normally accessed by pressing key 4 when in cockpit view, although I do not know how to access the Status screen on a console), bottom left, below Balance. If you get killed, and you can cover the REBUY, you will get a replacement ship identical to the one you lost (although the cargo bay will be empty). However, if you cannot cover the REBUY you may well end up back in a basic Sidewinder. Please do not let this happen to you, as the forum is littered with tales of woe when other Players have ignored Rule 1, and then got killed. This links to a classic one I have seen;
So it took me 1.5 years to get my Anaconda, and i lost it in 1 day. had 10 creds less then i need for insurance because i forgot i had a loan still from previous ship blowing up. So now in a fracking sidewinder, and to boot it started me 300LY from my back up ship in a station with no shipyard...
forums.frontier.co.uk
You will, at various stages, upgrade your ship (buying is covered in the next paragraph). Be aware that all internal equipment has numbers and letters associated with them. The number is the Class, while the letter is the Rating. Until you have a good understanding of the Class make sure (when upgrading) to fit the same Class as the unit coming out. There are stories of Players who fitted a 1A FSD to their Sidewinder, thinking it would help increase the jump range, only to find that (as the FSD that came out was a Class 2) they had REDUCED the jump range. The letter is for Rating, with E being the weakest and A being the strongest. However, there are two that confuse this somewhat. All D Rated equipment are very light (and are preferred by Explorers for this reason), while B Rated has heavy armour (which is great for combat specialists). I do not (at this time) intend to explain weaponry, as this is definitely a matter of personal preference.
When you decide to buy a new ship, try to have 200% of the purchase price first. That way you have enough for the ship, some basic outfitting, a couple of loads of cargo, and a couple of REBUYs (just in case). If you are trading in a ship, take it back to factory spec first. When you sell any ship you will always take a 10% hit on the value of the ship at the time of selling. However, if you take it back to factory spec first you get back the full amount that you paid for the upgrades (at this time, at least). Then, when you sell the ship, your losses will be reduced. For example, I have an A Rated Cobra MkIII worth 10Mcr. If I were to sell her now I would take a loss of 1Mcr. However, if I take her back to factory spec and then sell her my loss will be about 35Kcr.
One final piece of advise I have is that, when something within the Game gets boring, switch to something else for a while. There are so many different things you can do it should not be difficult to stay interested. I, for example, will alternate between Trading, RES Combat, Exploring and helping new Players in Starter Space (and there are a whole lot MORE in the way of things to do!).
Have fun, fly safely, and see you out amongst the stars. Feel free to ask any questions, we all had to learn somewhere, and those that care will answer all they can.
