Newcomer / Intro Starting Position: I am a new play, can someone explain?

NewYears1978 · Jan 30, 2015

I think I understand that the starting position is random, but the system I was started in has hardly any stations anywhere around that I can find.

How exactly does starting position work? Can it be changed in any way (clearing save or something?) or are you stuck there on your account once you start?
Can't remember the name of where I started (I am at work) but I remember a system called Kini being nearby or something.

I am a new player, bought the game about 2 days ago. Thanks in advance (yes I tried search/Google but no luck)

YDS55 · Jan 30, 2015

I started in LHS 3447. Maybe it's random but you can travel to the edge of our milkyway so you aren't stuck in the current system.

NewYears1978 · Jan 30, 2015

YDS55 said:
I started in LHS 3447. Maybe it's random but you can travel to the edge of our milkyway so you aren't stuck in the current system.

I've read a lot of people starting there. I know I can travel but I am so newb I don't know where to go lol. I just went from point to point (using map routes not just randomly) and even then once I ran out of gas.

Just playing solo right now to try to learn and setup my keys..but didn't know how that worked. Still trying to learn the navigation, I didn't even realize at first you can travel without setting a waypoint using only the routes (the lines) on the map.

YDS55 · Jan 30, 2015

Yeah the game has a steep learning curve but ones you get the hang of it, you'll play like a pro. If you have any questions just ask me or someone else. It's hard to figure out where you want to go at first but give it some time, fly around, discover new systems or call a particular system your home, and work from there.

NewYears1978 · Jan 30, 2015

YDS55 said:
Yeah the game has a steep learning curve but ones you get the hang of it, you'll play like a pro. If you have any questions just ask me or someone else. It's hard to figure out where you want to go at first but give it some time, fly around, discover new systems or call a particular system your home, and work from there.

Yeah that's the thing was figuring out how to travel between systems and such..I still don't quite know what I am doing but loads better than day one. Took a bit to understand supercruise and hyperdrive.

Problem is trying to find more stations without running out of gas...the first night I made some cash 20k real fast or so but then I couldn't find other stations..I maybe found 2 places to land. So you can just hyperdrive in a direction and get to other systems? You don't have to go just point to point (the grey lines on the galaxy map) ?

cmdr lowest · Jan 30, 2015

Don't worry about where you start. With the whole galaxy to explore you are very likely to not be around there for long.

Any questions, this is a cool place to ask. Some really good guys here.

gooddoc · Jan 30, 2015

Nearly all stations allow you to 'fill up'...if you go to the system map of where you want to go, then it shows you the planets & other bodies in that system. it will show any stations in the system too, even if there's no data for the planets.
You should fill up at every opportunity...or buy yourself a fuel scoop

YDS55 · Jan 30, 2015

You have a maximum of LY to jump, you can upgrade that in the outfitting in the hangars. You don't have to follow the lines, if you want to go to point C and you are at point A there is still point B in between, you don't have to jump to point B if you have enough fuel and enough jump range to jump directly to C. You can go anywhere as long as your ship has the required jump distance to reach your destination. On the galaxy map you can see the amount of LY or Light Years that it's away from you and from there you can decide where to go.
If you plot a route on the galaxy map the route they let you follow is the most economical one and uses the least of fuel.

cmdr lowest · Jan 30, 2015

YDS55 said:
You have a maximum of LY to jump, you can upgrade that in the outfitting in the hangars. You don't have to follow the lines, if you want to go to point C and you are at point A there is still point B in between, you don't have to jump to point B if you have enough fuel and enough jump range to jump directly to C. You can go anywhere as long as your ship has the required jump distance to reach your destination. On the galaxy map you can see the amount of LY or Light Years that it's away from you and from there you can decide where to go.
If you plot a route on the galaxy map the route they let you follow is the most economical one and uses the least of fuel.

Or apply the filter "fastest route" for the galaxy map to work out the shortest number of hops for you... It always defaults on "most economical route" which means more hops...

NewYears1978 · Jan 30, 2015

Pretty much everything on my map is unexplored is it better to just hope from system to system scanning (pays money I understand) or should I buy system data so that I can more easily find stations and such near me?

Midgardsormr · Jan 31, 2015

If you set the filter in your Galaxy Map to show Economies by color, all of the systems with colored dots will have stations in them, even if there's no exploration data available, and the color will tell you what kinds of goods you can expect to be able to buy and sell there.

nightspore · Jan 31, 2015

NewYears1978 said:
Pretty much everything on my map is unexplored is it better to just hope from system to system scanning (pays money I understand) or should I buy system data so that I can more easily find stations and such near me?

Sounds like you started in LHS 3447, and if you pick the wrong direction you can wind up in a maze of unexplored systems.

If a system has an actual recognizable name (or a stellar catalog number - like LHS 3447) then it will most likely have stations. If the name looks like something you'd use for a password then it probably won't.

YDS55 · Jan 31, 2015

NewYears1978 said:
Pretty much everything on my map is unexplored is it better to just hope from system to system scanning (pays money I understand) or should I buy system data so that I can more easily find stations and such near me?

I have no clue where you are, but it seems it's a lonley system in a unexplored area, which means it's going to be tougher for you to get started. If you don't want to try this, maybe clearing your save works and you start in a different system. Yes exploring does pay off, but only when you sell the data in systems that are more than 20LY away frome where you explored.
You should check the galaxy map for systems with atleast a outpost so you can refuel.
Best thing for you is to type in a system name where you want to go, and travel to it. You can check the Aulin system, it's a nice system and it's surrounded by other nice systems.
When you are in the galaxy map you can see if systems have stations because of the population numbers and what kind of resources they extract or deal in, in the system, if it has 0 population and it's already explored then you have no need to go there, just make sure you plot your trip right, it sucks if you are out of fuel and stranded in a cluster of uninhabited systems.