New pilot help - frustrated, when does the game get fun?

deckroid

deckroid
Just my .02

This game:

  • Steep Learning Curve
  • Unforgiving
  • No hand holding

+++ However, I will say that they have added a few things to make it easier than it was in 2015. For example, they have a starter area. Yes, do NOT leave that starter area until you are confident in flying, landing, plotting courses, how to find a station/planet that has what you need and most importantly how to escape combat. Especially if combat is not your thing.

+++ Also, they do have a pilots handbook now which somewhat tells you how to remove things like bounties. It is located on the Right Panel in the cockpit. It is kind of clunky, but it's better than flying blind.

+++ Also, Also, get to know your 3rd party sites. This official site and the unofficial INARA and EDDB are fantastic. They are a big help. And yes, I realize that 3rd party sites may not be the best solution to a game, but we do the best we can with what we got.

+++ If you have friends that play this game, wing up with them. Even if you do it in a your own Group (ie, not open and not solo, the middle option) it is amazing what you can learn in a group. The first time I jumped to another system I was screaming at my monitor because there was a whopping huge star RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Freaked me out a bit, I will admit.

+++ If you want the Solo experience, that's cool too. Personally, I will fly Solo when I am doing "Certain Things" that gain me stuff. This forum and YouTube will tell you all about how to pick up stuff that helps with engineering and SOLO is one way to go for that.

I know there are a LOT of people who rage quit then sit here on the forums and talk smack about this game. While I have never rage quit, I have taken breaks of up to 6 months from even looking at my HOTAS. These people will tell how much the game sux. How much they hate this or that. How broken the game is. How little the Devs work to fix things. How much better the game could be if they only... well, insert personal ideas here.

But I am here to tell you that the one reason I play this game... the one reason that has kept me playing and coming back...

I like to fly ships in space.

There are other games, sure. Some promised games that may never see the light of day. Some mouse/keyboard driven. Some more a German Spreadsheet game than space flight sim. My view is that this game, while imperfect as it is, is the best at what it does for me. Allows me to NOT be the hero/savior of the galaxy through some quest driven mechanics, but allows me to be part of the HUGE 1:1 map of the milky way. I don't have to follow guidelines. I don't have to follow formulaic scripts that someone else wrote. I get to do what I love.

Fly Ships In Space.
 

ethelred

ethelred
Nothing much to add to the excellent advice here, but if the numerous buttons are too much and you have a mic, it may be worth investing in Voice Attack. This uses voice recognition and subsequently voice commands for typical common actions such as "Lower landing gear", "deploy chaff" and so on.

HCS Voice Packs Ltd

Our voice packs give you the experience of Ai Agents in your games, simulating the environment entirely, voiced by legendary Hollywood Sci-Fi actors William Shatner & Brent Spiner. These voice packs work with Helldivers 2, Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, X4:Foundations and other flight simulators.
www.hcsvoicepacks.com www.hcsvoicepacks.com

(You can set it up yourself but it is a bit off a faff)
 

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos
deckroid said:
My view is that this game, while imperfect as it is, is the best at what it does for me. Allows me to NOT be the hero/savior of the galaxy through some quest driven mechanics, but allows me to be part of the HUGE 1:1 map of the milky way. I don't have to follow guidelines. I don't have to follow formulaic scripts that someone else wrote. I get to do what I love.
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This is a very fine description, well written, Sir.
 

scadh

scadh
Old Duck said:
I was pretty clueless when I started out, making mistakes all over the place, and yet I loved every minute of it (some of my best memories to be honest). The fact that you're hating the same experience that I loved is what makes me question if this game is for you. But if you want to stick it out and try to make it work, don't let me stop you!
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This. I was completely clueless when I started and made so many hilarious stupid mistakes early on. Yet, in hindsight, it was the early days of struggling to upgrade to a Cobra and then an AspX that I recall as the most fun I had in the game.

@OP if you're going to get frustrated at things the game doesn't tell you, then for your sanity's sake, it's probably best you give it up now. As others have pointed out, the tutorials come nowhere close to explaining everything. The learning curve is extreme and you are NOT going to learn it in 3 days. I played for about 300 hours before I thought I understood the mechanics behind most of the systems. I promise you, you only THINK you don't understand what's going on at this point. There is so, so much that you still don't know you don't know, if that makes sense. But if you can, persevere. There's a ton of enjoyment to be had here, most of it you make for yourself.
 

Trollymctrollerson

T
Heres my worthless input
•dont worry about credits too much. Almost all activity generates some
• if things go south financially because of some mistake you made, just ask for help if you want some. Billionaires are abundant.
•dont worry about fines and bounties. If you get wanted somewhere, just dont go there. If you fail a mission but still have the cargo on board, no worries. Find a black market in a low security system and sell it.
• learn to use the galaxy map to find things. if you get into trouble, Search for interstellar factors under services.
•if all the suggestions fail, and you still are miserable, stop playing. Dont succumb to an escalation commitment trap. The money you spent on the game is a sunk cost. No amount of miserable game play will ever recover the price you paid.
 

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos
scadh said:
Yet, in hindsight, it was the early days of struggling to upgrade to a Cobra and then an AspX that I recall as the most fun I had in the game.
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I totally agree. The sweat over deciding which ship to buy, running that final mission that gave you the balance to buy that one A-Rated module you wanted. They were great days. I can buy any ship in the game I like now, more than one of each, I could probably A-Rate them all, and engineer a good few of them to a nearly reasonable standard in one session without going broke or hunting.
 

RogerO18

R
I got killed twice within my first 2 days playing and restarted 3 times in the first week. I haven't died since with over 5k hours played. I know the frustrations new players can feel, I've been there. My son encouraged me to keep playing. He said I would love it eventually. He was right.
 

Lysette

Lysette
deckroid said:
Some more a German Spreadsheet game than space flight sim.
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I guess you are referring to EVE - it's icelandic not german. I play EVE since 2008 and have never used a spreadsheet in EVE at all. i do business there in a small market segment in which I profit by market manipulation - basically smashing some dents into the chart to bend it a little in my favor. I basically make my concurrence having to sell somewhere else - costs them time and costs their money - meanwhile they can't buy resources, so I get the cheapest of those and they have to buy the higher priced ones later on. I produce faster then them and am again first in the market, selling near the peak of the wave in bulk amounts, ruining prices with it, so they have to sell somewhere else ... and the game is repeating, pretty simple. no spreadsheet required at all.

Well, to be honest this is not all of it - the bulk amount I'm selling is so that I will always get my average target price regardless what the market is like. I have just different amounts of wares, which I sell in certain locations over time where I can get twice or 3-times average market value for those wares - but they don't sell quickly there, but that doesn't matter they will sell over time. The bulk amount just has to cover my costs somewhat (well, I sometimes sell under production costs, and ruin prices for a longer time, when the resource market is currently narrow, so that it can build up whilst my concurrence has trouble to sell their wares and their money is bound in product) - the profit comes indirect by selling over time. bulk sale has just to ruin the price for my councurrence, that they are forced to sell somewhere else where it costs them time and binds their money - and when they have it, they will find the resource market deserted and have to buy at higher prices - simple as that.
 
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CMDR DragonHorn

CMDR DragonHorn
Xaturn said:
Been playing 3 days. Hauled around enough cargo to eventually buy and upgrade a Cobra Mk III. Did a mission, accidentally hit some stationary NPC as I came out of hyperspace. Get wanted status. Headed to the system where I was wanted, to clear it up, because I didn't know how or what the process was for that. They wanted me to pay a 5,000 fine. I had less than that but about $250k in cargo that I wasn't allowed to sell because of the fine. I had no choice but to leave the station so they shot me down. Lost first ship and the cargo, now in significant debt. That right there is a terrible game mechanic.

Had an open assignment for a pirate hunting mission that should have been easy (for Harmless rating). Tried that, got destroyed again, now in more debt.

Went on another mission, got a wanted status and destroyed again and now in even more debt.

I want to give up, this is frustrating and not at all fun. There isn't even a way to reset from start or to reload so what is the point? I bought this for a single player experience, not whatever this idiocy is.

Can I reset from start? Should I have done more pilot federation missions before taking the job to explore and finding out only after that that kicks me out of the relative safety of the federation? CAN I STILL DO THAT? Just ed off and frustrated and stuck, do not know how to proceed in a way that makes the game an enjoyable experience. Also I hate combat, I do not have a good control setup (keyboard and mouse) for it and I have a condition that prevents my full concentration during time-sensitive things like that.

Just. I can't even.
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OP, the best thing I can tell you, if you stick with this game, that is:
Savor these moments you're experiencing right now. Don't take advices, just do it on your own hunch, at least for a while. Try figure stuff out on your own. It seems hopeless, like you're falling into a bottomless pit, but that's the best and most fun part of the game. When you learn how to do stuff and how general logic works here, game will become extremely stale and static. You will never be able to get into trouble or something unexpected to happen to you. But as long as you will be fumbling, like you do right now - that's the whole core of this game, the BEST part. Man, I miss these moments from my newbhood so bad...
 

VR jefranklin18

VR jefranklin18
OP, a lot of good advice has been posted here so I will only add one thing: I note you mentioned you had an Occulus but are not using it any longer. I would just say that trying ED in VR is an experience that is 100% worth it. Not sure if it is due to their recent policy change or whatever but would recommend that you find a way of playing in VR.

Sitting in your Sidewinder in VR for the first time will make you want to overcome all the obstacles you are experiencing.
 

VR jefranklin18

VR jefranklin18
Lysette said:
Lol, you are as reckless as I was 3 years ago - steaming full ahead into the station. :D

i recognized, that you turn the station so that you have the green position lights to your right - is this your way to memorize where your landing pad is?
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It is also waterway etiquette to keep the green lights to your starboard ;)
 
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zarrazee

zarrazee
yelboc said:
Inara can help you find interstellar factors.
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@Xatum. Just make sure you have a FSD which can get you out of the detention centre. I made the mistake of paying off my fine at IF in my "hot" combat ship which has a shockingly poor jump range (installed on purpose to keep the weight down). I couldn't get out of the system and had to pay 60,000CR to transfer a better FSD (which luckily I had in storage), so I could un-strand myself. To rub salt in the wound, it was only a 200CR fine for accidental friendly fire.


Xaturn said:
WHY GAME NO TELL US? :confused:
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You're right. The game could tell you, but it doesn't. It's like X3, X4, Kenshi and other sand-box open world games out there. You're just chucked in at the deep end, with little help or guidance. For me, tired of the hand-holdy AAA tripe that comes out nowadays, that appeals to me. I like to use my brain, read up on stuff & figure things out, rather than being told what to do, where to go and how to do it.

If you ever need any help or just want to ask questions, hook me up in-game (CMDR Wiley Wilson) or give the New Pilots Initiative squadron a look-up
 
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