Im a new player to this particular frontier game and i admit i found it nearly impossible to the point of giving up within the first few hours of play. However i stuck with it (after turning the air blue with language for a few hours) and i have landing down cold now pretty much. Ive done some trading and some transport missions and bought a cobra MK 3 ship and kitted it out with mining stuff. Ive learnt how to do that. I did spend 6 hours today though mining stuff that only net me 10k of credits which was a complete waste of time
even though i looked up places to get painite and platinum i just couldnt find any.
As for combat ive only done the training mission. Just about could complete the first one but had no chance with the advanced or protection the ship in the horizons training mission. I kinda expected there to be some kind of story to follow rather than just random stuff. It seems that the game is designed to throw you in at the deep end and abandon you without much of a clue. All this kind of makes the game very dull and boring for me. Do you have any tips on how to progress and what to do as a newbie starting out. Im playing in solo mode btw. Thanks for any help.
One thing that I'm going to try to do is give you the information, without trying to sound like you are wrong if you don't like the game. It's possible that this game isn't something that you will enjoy, and there is nothing wrong with that.
One tip that I have for all new players is to take advantage of opportunities when they occur. This could be a random meeting with another Commander, or an advanced Commander opening their ship for Multi-Crew, or an in-game event happening. These are the spices in the food, so to speak. Right now, there is a Community Goal that is very conveniently located, and is easy to participate in - I would very highly recommend all new Commanders to take part in the Asellus Primus CG, even just a little bit. It is already in the middle tiers of completion, and the payout is orders of magnitude higher than anything else you could be doing in the same amount of time spent. You can sign up for it anywhere that has a mission board (the CG's are in the gray box at the top of the mission list, select that, then select the Asellus Primus CG, and choose Sign Up), just make sure you are signed up before you hand in the bounty vouchers. They will show in your Transactions tab (if you want to see them at all), and you turn them in at Beagle (specifically Beagle, not anywhere you want) using the Contacts option in the station services UI.
Go to the ringed planet just outside of Beagle, and go into one of the resource sites (low is safer than high). You might have to have some patience, and keep an eye on your Contacts tab, but ships should start showing up that the cops start shooting. Stay relatively close to the cops, and you will find them. Target them, wait for the scan while getting in a decent position, make sure it says Wanted in the bottom left corner of the screen, and start shooting. You only have to hit it a little bit (with some caution, don't shoot the cops by mistake), and you will get credit. Shoot it until the letters go from gold to red. Turn those bounties in at Beagle. I don't know for sure, but a dozen or so should get you into the top 75%, and the payout as of 12 hours ago was over 3 million credits. You should be able to get a dozen in less than 2 hours. Done this way, there is little risk, and a high reward that will give you a significant jump-start to your career. If you are feeling really opportunistic, there are two more also going on (Eravate and somewhere else that isn't terribly far); if you can make it to those and participate even a little bit, you could perhaps end up with 3 payouts at 3+ million credits. Not bad for a few hours' work, eh? Also, I have never seen a penalty for signing up for a CG, but not participating in it. When the CG finishes, you will collect the reward from Beagle (or whatever station is hosting the CG). Finally, you can monitor your standing from any station that has a mission board.
Even if Combat is not your thing, take advantage of the opportunity anyway. You don't have to pound on it for hours to get a good return. If you are able to get into the top 25% or higher, then the payouts are even better, and for this CG, the only thing you need to participate is a ship that has a single weapon. The cops will be doing a lot more damage than you, so as long as you wait for them to start shooting (and for your scan to finish and show Wanted), there really is very little danger, and you don't need to be an ace pilot. Easy money.
As a new Commander starting out in general: one of the best things about this game is that for all activities, there is more than one way to skin the cat, so to speak. You will find that there are a lot of players who can't get out of their efficiency, grind, and credits per hour mindsets who will disagree, but you are likely to find that those are also the Commanders that complain all the time. In a lot of ways, this game is what you make of it, and by that, I do not mean using your imagination. You can do everything in the game to a fair level with that Cobra Mk3 that you bought - you don't need to buy another ship, if you don't want to (and a fair number of Commanders don't go past the Cobra 3). There are ships that can deliver (and take) more damage, ships that can haul (a lot) more cargo at a time, and ships with a (much) higher maximum jump range, but the Cobra 3 can do it all with minimal gear swaps, and it's the gateway ship to the rest of the game.
Lots of words applicable to any new Commander, and also to your question, Newbie0. But for you specifically:
I will recommend a series of goals for you (a progression track, if you prefer), with the intention of showing you some of the various things that are in the game as a side benefit. The activities will be somewhat varied, and perhaps require different loadouts on your ship, but as I mentioned earlier, the Cobra 3 can easily handle all of it. Ship modules buy and sell for a zero sum, which means you lose no money buying and selling them. Items you might use often (like Cargo Racks) you should probably store, instead of selling, especially the ones that are 3E and higher.
- Participate in at least one of the current CG's that are located in and near Asellus Primus. Even if Combat isn't your thing, do it at least enough to get top 75%. Up to a certain point, more credits = more options, and also more room to absorb mistakes. Not all mistakes that cost you credits involve the destruction of your ship.
- Upgrade your Cobra
Frame Shift Drive - A
Power Distributor - A
Power Plant - A, and the smallest (size 2 or 3, instead of 4) that provides enough power for everything (learn power management at a later time)
Shields - A or Bi-weave for Combat, D for anything else (make your choice)
Thrusters - A for Combat or speed/performance, D for anything else (make your choice)
Obtain a Heatsink launcher and a Frameshift Wake Scanner for the Utility slots (substitute a Kill Warrant Scanner for Combat/Bounty Hunting)
Obtain an Advanced Discovery Scanner, and a Detailed Surface Scanner (around 1.5 million credits for both of these, fyi)
Obtain a Fuel Scoop, preferably 3B or 4B. 4A will be the best you can use, but it's pricey.
Make sure you have at least one SRV
- Unlock Elvira Martuuk and Felicity Farseer (yes, both). Make sure you have the Fuel Scoop, Advanced Discovery Scanner, the Detailed Surface Scanner, and at least one SRV with you. Scan every system with the ADS you travel through, and maybe some things with the DSS as well for this entire trip.
Do enough to get to level 3 (at least) with each one, and Engineer your Frame Shift Drive for increased jump range
- While obtaining the item to unlock Farseer, visit the crashed Alien vessels, but don't pick anything up off the ground yet. Remember them, though. Also visit one of the active barnacle sites, and one of the newly-discovered Thargoid bases. You won't be able to do anything there yet, but see it anyway.
-While travelling to Farseer (or just after visiting her), go visit one of the Alien Ruins, making sure you go far enough out that it triggers Elvira's 300 light year requirement
-After obtaining the item to unlock Elvira and spending some time with her, go visit Betelgeuse, and land on the closest planet to it that you can
In completing this track, you will have experienced:
Some Combat
Some Trade
The basics of Exploration, and a fair amount of Exploration data if you scanned systems/planets on this loop that can be sold for credits
The basics of Outfitting
One of the wonders of the galaxy (Betelgeuse), and a Black Hole in the Maia system, if you fly out to it
Alien stuff in different forms
Total travel approximately 3k light years (which means nothing really, other than the accomplishment)
Unlocked 2 of the more useful Engineers
Several planetary landings where you don't have pre-generated waypoints to guide you to the location
Learned what resources to use and where to look for information needed to achieve some of these goals that I have deliberately left out, which also helps you interact with other Commanders, who might become Wingmates
Hopefully when you visited Betelgeuse, you landed in such a way that the star is clearly visible, and took the opportunity to learn how the Camera Suite works to take screenshots
Sorry for the Great Wall of Text, and I hope it helps you, and anyone else looking for a path to get started.
Edit to add bonus item - go to the Meene system, and find Ram Tah's mission. Ideally, do this before you visit the Alien Ruins. You can complete a number of the scans at any of the Ruins locations, but there will be some research, or trial and error on your part if you want to discover it all yourself. Make sure you have an SRV, and at least 8T worth of cargo space, 12T is better.
Edit for clarity - the Community Goals that I mention numerous times in this post have been completed, and as such, are not longer valid. You can do current ones if you like, or substitute "make money" in place of them.
Riôt
