1. Getting Started Guide
In The BeginningWelcome to the galaxy.
If you’re reading this, hopefully, you’re now safely parked up at Mawson Dock in the Dromi system, or Coelho station in Matet. Either way, you're no doubt eager to see the galaxy and start blazing your own trail. Awesome. But where to start... well that’s where this guide comes in.
First things first, it’s always worth understanding where you are. So, take a look at the galaxy map (you can use your left panel for this, but I'd recommend you set a keybind ASAP). This is how you’ll do most of your navigating.
So, the dots you see here are stars, many of the nearby ones you’ll see are marked with an orange winged symbol. These are the restricted systems of what we call the “Noobula” only pilots who have NOT earned any ranks in the Pilots Federation are permitted here. This means that more experienced and... heavily armed CMDRs can not reach you here. However these systems are also very limited in what they offer. Soon you’ll leave this area and will never return, but fear not, you’ll never want to.
Now, at the top of the menu on the left, click on the button that looks like a set of stars, then on the new submenu the "Powerplay" button. This map view and shows you which powers control which systems. You don’t need to worry about this much yet, but it’s a helpful to show you human occupied space. So, zoom out a bit, and you should soon see the entirety of human occupied space. This is what is usually called “The Bubble” because it looks like a bubble. There’s about 20,000 star systems in there.
Now, keep on zooming out... keep going... as far as it goes. Now that is the entire Milky Way Galaxy, mapped to scale, almost 100,000 Lightyears across. 400 BILLION stars, of which only 0.05% have so far been discovered by anyone. Now best to switch back to Map view.
That’s all well and good, but you probably have some more immediate concerns right now. Like what ship you’re in, what to do, where to go, and how to get paid.
The Ship
So, let’s take a look at your ship. On the starport services menu, take a look in “Outfitting” (on the lower right). This is where you can see all the key info about your ship, jump range, speed, shields, etc and change everything about the ship. It helps a lot to have some understanding of what all this stuff means. So we'll start from the top.
Hardpoints - Essentially the weapon mounts on your ship. Different weapons do different types of damage and different amounts of it. The pulse lasers you have fitted are fine for now.
Utilities - these are the other bits of equipment that you can fit on the outside of your ship which are not weapons. heatsink launchers, chaff launchers, shield boosters... etc.
Core - the core modules are those which your ship cannot fly without. You must always have something in each of these slots (any other slots on your ship can be left empty if you choose).
Optional - this is where all the other stuff fits that can slot into the internals of your ship. everything from cargo racks to a shield generator. You can leave these slots empty, or fill them all with different modules, or fit multiple of some module types like cargo racks.
Now, you'll notice looking through all this that the modules all have a number and a letter. Here is what those mean for the optional and core modules (weapons and utilities are a bit different, but the principles mostly apply):
The Numbers
This indicates the SIZE of the module. The sizes range from 1-8 with each size up being about twice the size of the previous. So a size 2 is twice the size of size 1, a size 3 is twice the size of a size 2 etc. All the way up to size 8 which is 128 times bigger than a size 1.
The Letters
This indicates the RATING of the module. Think of this as build quality. These range from A-E as follows:
- A-rated - pro-grade - very good, and very expensive, standard weight
- B-rated - heavyweight - twice the standard weight, but tougher, and sometimes have useful characteristics like extra range or ammo. but usually a bit worse than A-rated
- C-rated - cost effective - standard weight, reasonable performance and much cheaper than A or B
- D-rated - lightweight - half the standard weight, but significantly worse performance otherwise than C-rated
- E-rated - bare minimum - these do the job, just about... standard weight
General outfitting tip
You only have 10,000 credits right now (assuming you did the mission back to Mawson, only 1000cr if you didn't), so won't be able to do much, but here's what you should aim for as soon as you can:
In general the first thing to upgrade on any ship is the Frame Shift Drive. The E-rated ones are terrible, and the low jump range they provide make everything difficult. However, your starter sidewinder comes with a D-rated one as standard. This is the best you can buy in the Noobula, later you'll want A-rated.
Note you should ALWAYS fit the largest FSD you can fit (ie when you get your first cobra, it comes with a 4E FSD, fitting a 3A one will give you much WORSE jump range, so stick to size 4).
Next up is getting all your core internals and shield up to D-rated. This makes your ship lighter, and jump range (and speed) increases as your ships weight decreases. Once you can afford it, your powerplant should always be A-rated.
Most ships will run a mix of A and D modules, usually D-rated sensors and life support.
Basic Tips
Very useful things to understand or set up as soon as you can.
Thrusters - the top tip I can give you for improving your control of the ship is to get used to using your thrusters. Make sure you have easy access to controls bound for thrusting in each direction (forwards/backwards, up/down, and left/right) as well as turning on each axis. In any operations where precision is required such as landing, taking off, mining, combat, etc. You are going to have an easier time if you use your thrusters in these movements and set your main throttle to zero.
Nav markers - A lot of pilots early on run into problems when trying to fly to a nav marker, or while trying to jump to another system. This is generally because the nav marker is on the other side of a planet or star. The nav marker having a dashed outline indicates that it is on the other side of a body and you cannot reach it in a straight line. You cannot fly through planets in supercruise, or jump through them in hyperspace so your ship automatically drops you out into normal space.
6 Second Rule - The most time efficient way of approaching a space station - head towards at full speed until your "time to destination" indicator (which is just under the distance to destination on your HUD) shows 00:06, then very quickly reduce your throttle to 75% (you can set a quick key for this in settings). If you get this right you will find your time to destination stays at 00:06, and you can drop out safely. Be warned though that if you leave it too late you won't slow down in time, so practice with 7 seconds first.
Supercruise navigation - the speed at which you can travel in supercruise is limited by the gravity of the nearest body (planet, moon, or star). if you find that you are moving very slowly despite being at full throttle in supercruise, you are probably close to a planet or moon. In order to escape and accelerate, you just need to fly further away from it.
Interstellar Navigation - you cannot supercruise between systems, no matter how long you fly for. The system will not be there, so don’t try. Instead follow these navigation tips:
- Go to the second tab (3 dots joined by two lines) and write in the name of the system in the search box. Hit Enter. Once the map is centred on the system, click on the same symbol in the popup window to plot a route there.
[li]make sure the route plotter on the galaxy map is set to “Fastest Routes” - Fuel scoop - if you’re travelling far, make sure you have one. To use it, you just fly near a scoopable star (type O, B, A, F, G, K, or M).
Game Modes - there are three different game modes in Elite as follows:
- Solo - just you and NPCs
- Private Group - you, NPCs, and only the people who fly in that private group
- Open - the “real” galaxy filled with all the other players who fly in open.
Note that apart from busy systems there is often no difference between Open and Solo. Since the galaxy is big, and players tend to gather together in a few systems. So Open is typically just as safe as solo.
However, be aware that Open does come with the risk of encounters with hostile players, they can attack you for any reason, or no reason. This is very unusual in the new player area, but there are dangerous hotspots in the galaxy (more on this later).
It is common for new players to fly around in Open happily for days, or weeks without being attacked, then encounter a ganker and get destroyed terrifyingly quickly, we have guides and offer training here to help make sure that this doesn't happen to you. But, if it does, please do not be angry about it. You were up against a vastly superior player, who probably has many thousands of hours of gametime behind them. Trust me when I say that Elite is biased to defence, and we can teach you to survive almost any form of attack.
That's why I personally recommend everyone flies in Open, and why most NEWP pilots fly in open most of the time. This isn't mandatory of course, just a recommendation.
What to do next...
The short answer is... Missions.
Go to the mission board in Mawson Dock. You'll see an array of different missions available to you. I'd recommend trying a selection of these, here's a rough order I'd recommend trying them out in.
- Delivery and Data Courier - there are always plenty of these going back to Coelho Station in the Matet system. These are worth doing to get your balance up a bit and your equipment upgraded a little before thinking about trying out anything more complex. If you're going to do this, a good first step for this is to buy yourself some more cargo racks in the outfitting screen so that you can carry more at the same time. Then get any cargo loaded up (on the mission screen) and fly to the destination station and drop it off (on the mission screen).
- Liberate / Salvage Data Storage - for these you will just have to find a Mission Related USS (Unidentified Signal Source) in supercruise in the target system (it'll be highlighted in blue usually), collect the goods and bring them back.
- Interact with Hub Access - use your SRV for these, so make sure you have one on board, find the destination on the planet surface, plot your route to it, and land and take the SRV. Get to the data hub (it looks like a tower) and hold down the fire button on the the datalink scanner (make sure it is assigned on the fire groups).
- Combat - massacre missions involve killing a set number of pirates, while assassination missions involve killing a particular pirate. The pirates are are very low level and often try harder to run away than to kill you unless you have cargo in your hold. So i'd recommend taking some commodity with you to make sure you retain their attention if you're doing these.
Time to Move Elsewhere???
It's a big galaxy out there, and while the noobula offers some useful benefits, it is also very very limited. There are only a few ships and modules available, the missions don't pay much, and neither does anything else. So, at some point you are going to want to venture out. So, some advice.
First things first, when should you do this? Whenever you feel that you are ready. Some players spend a few days or even weeks getting their head around the game in the noobula, while others leave it more or less immediately after the tutorial. Go for it whenever you feel ready, the majority of the galaxy really isn't that dangerous, so don't be nervous about setting out.
But, be aware that sooner or later you WILL meet someone or something nasty that will obliterate you before you know what’s happening. When this happens to you, try to think of this as a learning experience, ask questions around here, and we’ll help you prepare so it doesn’t happen to you again.
Where should I go?
The game will give you a graduation mission called "Explore the Galaxy". This will pay 100,000 credits to go to a star system nearby, feel free to take this if you would like as it's probably one of the best paying missions you've seen by this point. However, be aware that it isn't a lot of credits in the game in general, so if you'd prefer to skip this mission and head elsewhere then feel free.
If you are joining a squadron with friends or others you have met, they may have a home system which they'd suggest you head towards. You are of course also more than welcome to head to the New Pilots Initiative home system - Meliae. We picked this system specifically because it offers a lot of benefits for players who are just starting out in the game, so, if you have no other destination in mind, consider heading in our direction.
Departure Preparations
Whatever direction you are heading in, you should build yourself a ship capable of longer distance journeys. For this purpose, I personally would recommend the Hauler. It's cheap, and jumps further than anything else you can buy in the Noobula, especially with the available outfitting. Here is an example build, you can buy everything you need for this at Mawson Dock in the Dromi system, and it costs a mere 61,000 credits total.
Hauler Build
However, whatever ship you’re using, make sure you increase your jump range as best you can. You want at least 10ly otherwise you’ll have difficulty reaching many places at all.
On Route
A couple other things to be aware of:
Route Plotting - as this will probably be your first long journey, make sure that the route plotter on the galaxy map is set to "Fastest Route".
Fuel - Now, one of the things you'll spot on this build is a fuel scoop, which so far you will not have needed. The fuel scoop in short does what it sounds like, it scoops fuel, in this case, directly from stars. So, you can refuel in most star systems as long as the star is one of the following types O, B, A, F, G, K and M (mnemonic "Oh, be a fine girl/guy, kiss me"). By simply flying close to the star. The fuel scoop will start filling the tank automatically. However, the snag with stars is that they are quite hot, and if you get too close you risk overheating which can damage your ship. So keep an eye on the temperature gauge at the side of your radar, and if it gets too hot, move further from the star, if it gets REALLY too hot, well that's when you use a heat sink.
The honk - every system that you enter, i would recommend that you use the discovery scanner, this will allow you to gather exploration data, which, by the time you reach you destination may be worth a reasonable amount.
Now, time to hit the road. Hopefully, I'll see you in Meliae sometime soon.
High Risk Areas
Since you are now going to be travelling as you see fit, it's worth being aware of the risks. Most of the galaxy is very safe to fly around in Open, simply due to weight of numbers. There are about 20,000 populated systems in the bubble and most systems have no human players present at any given time. Only a few of those that do contain players actively hunting other players.
So, 99% of systems won’t contain players hunting for you, and the biggest risk you’ll face in Open is the same you’ll face in Solo - NPC pirates.
HOWEVER, there are some systems that are ganking hotspots. These are few but very dangerous. If you are entering any of the following systems, make sure you are flying something that can escape attack, and you are prepared to defend yourself (in rough order of risk):
- Shinrarta Dezhra
- Deciat
- San Tu
- Sol
- Maia
- Any engineer system
- Any system where there is a player event or Community Goal under way (big events can move this to the very top of the high risk category).
New to the Squadron
Here's some useful stuff to help you out if you've just joined the squadron.
Comms panel - I'd highly recommend going to the settings (the cog symbol) and putting all the channels you can to "Tabbed". This allows you to see all the different channels, including the squadron chat channel at the same time. Alas you have to do this every time you log in, but while you're at it, consider saying hello in the squad chat at the same time.
Home System - we picked Meliae as our home system for some very good reasons. It's a great place for new players with all the stuff you could need easily accessible including: an easy access station, great outfitting, a material trader, RES sites (all levels), installations, Void opals, is close to a penal colony for easy recovery, and has every other facility you could need within a single jump.
Bookmarks - speaking of things in the vicinity, once you're in the squadron you'll find a set of squadron bookmarks on your galaxy map, you can see these as a list by going to the third tab (the white square with a notch out of the bottom). These are numbered and organised into groups as follows:
1 - home system - Meliae - and other systems where our faction is present
2.x - Key facilities in close proximity to Meliae
3.x - Places to buy stuff you need at a discount
4.x - Places to gather engineering materials
5.x - Money making locations, mostly mining hotspots.
6.x - Rank grind Locations
7.x - Thargoid locations
8.x - Guardian locations
9.x - A list of cool/impressive/interesting/beautiful places you might wanna visit
Note that you won't see this on the galaxy map itself by default. However, if you go to the right-most tab you can click the box against "Squadron Bookmarks" and they'll all show up in green.