Newcomer / Intro New Player! ....expectations?

[Kyran64]

Hello! I'm new to the game as of a few weeks ago! I'm not looking for information as much as insight. Mostly, I'm trying to feel out where to draw the line with my hopes and expectations for this game.

I understand that a lot of the player experience here in terms of exploring the galaxy and making discoveries is community driven. The game is just simply too massive to jump in thinking that one person is going to single handedly solve all of the mysteries and find all of the things.

I've watched dozens of videos and guides, used some of the third party tools, made some money and tried some things! I enjoy the game for what it's been so far.
....but is there any way to navigate the game without relying solely on those things?

It feels like the game just expects you to know the years of ongoing history and major points of interest with no real way of learning about it through any kind of in-game experience.

Is starting out in this game and moving up in the world towards doing whatever we decide to do basically just one giant fetch quest in which we have no actual way of solving any of it? We just look up the locations of everything and grind through to the make progress until we're technologically caught up with where the game is today...whether we actually understand it or not?

Not asking to be critical or complain. Just honestly curious so I know what to expect. If there are in-game sources of information to help get a feel for what's going on in the galaxy and how to go about making progress in any particular direction, I'd love to learn how to find and use them!

 

[Ashnak]

Let me put it this way: all the information you can find on any of the external sources was gathered from in-game sources. And by that I mean in-game sources that were/are available to anyone playing the game - FD comes down very hard on anyone attempting source code mining.

The main sources available to you in-game are:

• Galnet
• the Codex
• system/market information from any system you are in right now
• interraction with Engineers
• your own research and observations (e.g interactions with Thargoids, Guardians and their artefacts)

Community driven? Yes, of course. The Galaxy is too big for any single player. ED is a gigantic sandbox, you don't have any hope in hell, as a single CMDR, to do everything. Find something you like to do, and do it. When you get fed up with it, find something else.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

There are also CG's (community goals) which you may find are immerisve. I've not done any myself, mind.

@Ashnak has already given you a heap of info to get you started on the "current affairs" type stuff but you don't have to stick to only doing that. The galaxy is your oyster and welcome to the bubble! @@@07

 

[Chris Simon]

It feels like the game just expects you to know the years of ongoing history and major points of interest with no real way of learning about it through any kind of in-game experience.

I see it from the oposite point of view.
The game doesn't expect you to know (or do) anything. It's up to you to search, explore and discover. It doesn't matter if you discover a planet nobody knew about, a ship function that was hidden in the depths of some sub-menu or a station that buys ore at ridiculous prices. Every day is Christmas no matter what you decide to do.

 

[Craith]

It is also a game that is more enjoyable for those interested in the journey than the destination. There is no endgame (although there are harder and easier things to do). You don't need the biggest, baddest ship to enjoy the game.

If you find out you don't enjoy your current activity, don't repeat it ad infinitum just because it makes a lot of credits, or gets you the materials you need for some engineering. There are alternative ways to get most stuff, even if they may not be the community-approved-fastest-way-to-get-stuff(TM).

And don't be afraid to ask for help. The community is great, and while a few may send you a generic git-gud, others will take you by the hand and show you how to get better. Or just help you out of a precarious situation.