Hi, struggling noob checking in

[Xebeth]

I'm far from an expert, but here are a few things I have learnt so far (some of which have been mentioned already)

1. Never fly without the credits to cover your insurance, even if it means carrying less than a full cargo load
2. A HOTAS is a good investment, I started with a Speedlink Black Widow Flightstick, which whilst basic is only £23 from Amazon (now use the Thrustmaster HOTAS X).
3. Always submit to interdictions, the cost of losing the interdiction mini-game isn't worth it when you can very simply submit and then run, as other have said, have 4 pips to engines and 2 in system before entering SC
4. Try out the various 3rd part trading tools (INARA, Slopey's ED BPC, Thrudd's), these can help to find good trade routes, but always check that the data is less than a couple of days old, and estimated profits off more than 1200-1300 will probably be errors
5. Always check the Bulletin Board before you sell your cargo, there are sometimes missions for exactly the cargo you have just landed with
6. The targets in the high value assassination missions will always be big ships (e.g. Anaconda) with very skilled AI pilots and lots of weapons
7. Lowering your landing gear disables boost, or make sure your boost button is nowhere near a button you use whilst landing or taking off
8. Move your jettison cargo button well away from anything else
9. If you zero your throttle as you enter hyperspace you won't fly into the star as you exit
10. Not all stars can be scooped, only A, B, F, G, K, M, O
11. Buy your cargo before you plot your route, or use the weight slider
12. When buying new equipment for your ship, always deploy your weapons somewhere safe to check the power consumption before you go into combat for the first time (you do not want your ship shutting down at the start of a fight)
13. The most money is made from trading, but mixing it up with a few missions and some bounty hunting keeps it interesting
14. If you die any exploration data or bounty claims you haven't handed in are lost, so hand them in a soon as you can. For exploration data the price does not change with greater distances
15. Keep a note of outposts with black markets in your local area, you can then sell any salvage without having to try and slip past security
16. Always let your scan finish before you open fire or you will also become Wanted

Most of all have fun, play the way you want, and remember it's the journey not the destination that's important

[Cmdr Kharma]

Point 12 is valid.........

Only idiots do that......

Never done that myself......

*Coughs*

[Scian Dearg]

Yes Point 12 is valid ehhhmmmm, never did that myself of course. Too skilled lol.

Also ensure you checks systems after you rebind keys on your joystick.

Assassination mission got real interesting when I realised I had unbound my fire keys while rebinding my FA key. Piloting 101 school for me again, Instructor is sick of seeing me.

[Emanon]

Excellent post Xebeth! I'd like to add a couple other tips of things that I discovered that made the game so much easier for me.

1. Approach larger stations from the planetary side while in supercruise as this will generally line you up for the entrance when you come out (obviously this doesn't matter for small refinery platforms or outposts, but great for any stations you have to "enter").

2. The sweet spot for approach to a station/event/or celestial object that is targeted is 6 seconds in supercruise at 75% throttle. I'm sure commanders do this a variety of ways and you will hear or see people talking about putting it in the "blue zone", but I have found the simplest way is to approach any object like a station a full speed SC and as the distance/time in Light Seconds is counting down right when it is about to hit 6, I hit my hotkey for 75% throttle (I usually hit it right around 7 ls away). This ALWAYS brings me in at the perfect speed to the target, no overshoot, can relax off the throttle for a while. The 75% throttle hotkey exists in the control setup and is even a good thing for a HOTAS button. Even if your throttle is still in the max position and you use the 75% hotkey you will only be at 75%. After you jump out you can tip it back a bit then push it fully forward again to reset it to max.

3. Save the bigger assassination missions for update 1.2 "Wings" as you will be able to join others to take down the tougher targets (and hopefully they implement it in a way where you share the wealth, but if not you can just rotate kills).