It certainly has a learning curve. I wouldn't say it's as steep as Elite: Dangerous, though. Moreover most of the controls and gameplay concepts have their equivalents in ED which work nearly the same way, in the broad sense. If you know how to play Elite, earning the Infinity: Battlescape degree is mostly just a matter of memorising the few 'gotchas' where the mechanics differ in a subtle way. I've bound most of the controls the same way as I did in Elite to keep my muscle memory. Like for instance I have the overcharge for the ship systems (engine/shield/weapons) bound to the same joystick buttons as the corresponding power management controls in ED. Chaff is fired by the same button. I warmly recommend binding the chaff, at least. It's vital for survival as both players and NPC's like to spam missiles a lot. You can "juke" missiles even without using chaff but it's a bit more advanced.
Biggest difference in my setup is I don't have the flight assist toggle bound anywhere. I simply rip the entire module out on all of my loadouts.
Installing the stealth upgrade on your interceptor can make living a lot easier because it stops everyone in 10+ km radius from beelining toward you as the only real player on their radar, and gives you the freedom to engage the enemy on your own terms.
You can even add a module that boosts your pitch rate at the expense of yaw to make you feel more at home and the HUD can be configured to use a mighty familiar looking radar design.
For capital ships, the best survival tactic is simply staying near other capital ships.
Dying a lot can't really be avoided, though! Comes with the game's nature as a PVP combat arena.
