Newcomer / Intro Unable to get to locations

[Captain Irons]

Hi.

So I'm new to ED but unable to progress as I don't know what to do to get resources/funds to upgrade ships and purchase new ones. I don't want to spend IRL money just to progress. I have a fine and am early in the game. I don't have the funds to pay it so I can dock at the first station.

Could someone provide some insight and advice for me to advance?

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

There's a plethora of ways to make money as a beginner, so the question is a bit too general, and depends on wether you own Odyssey or not. One of the easiest, but not most profitable ways, is to to data courier missions. No cargo space needed, just take the mission, fly from A to B, hand in the mission, get paid. You can do that until your funds are sufficient to do other stuff that might cost a few credits in preparation (for example, if you want to do exobiology you need an artemis suit, which costs 150,000 credits).

As for your situation of not being able to dock: Technically, with a fine you are able to dock; anyonymous access means you cannot access any station services apart from legal services to pay your fine. Your best bet is to move on to a different system where you have no legal trouble for now, and don't get any more fines for now .

 

[metatheurgist]

Also, if you have just started, you're not losing much by resetting your save. And don't worry about spending real money to progress, that's not a thing in this game.

 

[Terekhov]

My first advice is not to try to rush through progress in ED. There is no endgame. No way to say that you've "Won ED".
Firstly learn the basis of the game. ED has a massive learning cliff. It's worth caliming it very carefully.
In the early days as Helmut says, doing simple missions, initially data courier, then small cargo missions are a great way to start. See where the missions take you, get the feel of each station you visit as a result, maybe you'll find one you like and cn settle down there for a while. Let wealth and progress take care of itself and a driving force to do those missions.
I would very strongly advise against following Make money fast videos on youtube. They will work, but will spit you out of the game quickly without really experiencing the game properly. You'll go away thininkg ED is grindy and that there is nothing in the game.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Do you know why you got a fine in the first place?

 

[Fixitman]

The Codex on the right panel of your ship doesn't cover every detail, but it's a decent starting reference.

 

[aRJay]

Hi.

So I'm new to ED but unable to progress as I don't know what to do to get resources/funds to upgrade ships and purchase new ones. I don't want to spend IRL money just to progress. I have a fine and am early in the game. I don't have the funds to pay it so I can dock at the first station.

Could someone provide some insight and advice for me to advance?

The only things you can buy with real money for the game are cosmetic and will not help you progress in the game.

There are lots of tutorials and training scenarios available from the main menu or in the cockpit that will help you get familiar with how your ship works and let you set your controls to what works for you.

As has been said the starter ship is free and early upgrades cheap so try anything if it goes wrong start over you won’t have lost that much time and effort.

 

[Ashnak]

The only things you can buy with real money for the game are cosmetic and will not help you progress in the game.

Legally
As usual in MMOs, there are other ways to acquire in-game currency. I would advise strongly against it. FD will come down on those cases like the proverbial ton of bricks.

Back to your problem: you got a fine and don't have the funds to pay it off? Since fines are usually in the lower three figure range, that doesn't sound too good - even refuelling your ship (at another station) would pose a problem in this case. However you got into this fix, restarting your CMDR (and taking better care of your funds this time round) may be your best bet at this point.

 

[Ryder7]

If you can afford a fuel scoop and a few jumps, the missions where you have to scan megaship uplinks are well paid for the begining.
It is legal missions under assistance operations, not their hacking purple conterpart, so nobody is going after you.

-in order to scan: first you scan with your datalink the whole ship until it flickers, then on your left target panel, you will find your subsystem ''ship log uplink''. Select it from here so you have its bearing on your radars/hud withinh white brackets. Get close like 200m and scan this too, the mission status upgrades, you are good to go.

-sometimes there is a chance you can receive a distress call from that megaship as a few bandits are coming on attack, just ignore this for now, don't choose a side so you stay neutral, and leave as soon as your scan is done.
(But be careful if said megaship seems wasted: there is a similar situation but with thargoids instead of pirates, and they are more likely to engage you no matter what since you are human faction de facto)

Payouts usually are around half a million Cr for relatively low danger, but a bit of travel sometimes. Just don't go without a fuelscoop, and keep in mind your survival as a beginner without much money and a small ship is more important for now than losing a bit of reputation or trying to help the good guys, so if you ever feel it stinks, abort and turn around for now.