My advice to new players (who have the game mechanics SOMEWHAT down, I’m not going to teach you how to dock and shit)
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Welcome! Now hustle that Sidewinder over to whatever station your Freagle is in.
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Go to the Shipyards and SELL THAT FREAGLE. 40K Cr is now yours.
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Waaaa??? Yes, sell it. The Eagle is not for you. Consider a ship USELESS until you can afford the basic upgrades I’ve listed below. The Freagle without these upgrades is worse than useless (structural integrity of wet toilet paper especially) and with its 2 units of cargo space, is hard to trade your way out of.
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With that 40K Cr and in that same station (assuming it’s Dalton, which seems to be the case for everyone these days), upgrade the core of your Sidey:
- Class C power plant
- Class C power distributor
- Class C frameshift drive
This should leave you around 2K Cr. What upgrading your core allows you to do:
- Your Sidey now has decent “legs”, so you can jump 10LY or so at a time. This is important should you decide to go system mapping for credits. It also opens up vital trading options.
- Your Sidey now has enough power to survive in combat – because of the power increases, you can lean on your two peashooters more and your shields will recharge faster. You are by no means in a combat spec Sidey, so you shouldn’t go looking for fights yet, but if you get jumped by another Sidey, Eagle, or unshielded Cobra there is no need to pee your flight suit in fear now. (Note: I can bounty hunt in a basic Sidey; you can’t yet.)
- Now look for a decent (2K+) scrap hauling mission or something in the BBS. You need a little cushion before you…
- Get the hell out of the newb system. LHS 4337/Erevaste/etc. is just a mess. You’ll waste your time trying to dock at full stations. Jump over to Frigaha (or whatever it’s called) because it’s a big unexplored system. Explore it and it’s worth like 1.5K+ credits down the road. Then start hopping until you find your new home. You’ll know what it is when you find it.
At this point, I look for a Fed system that also has a anarchy port in it. There’s plenty out there. Then I cruise FSD looking for USS’es. I’m looking for wanted targets I can handle, or free goodies. The bounties go to the Fed port; the goodies go to the anarchy station.
Your mission here is to bring your Sidey up to combat spec:
- Class C Shields (17K) then
- Class E beam laser (37K) followed by
- Class E beam laser (37K)
At this point, you are in a Sidey that can feast on the lower denizens of the galaxy, and, if you’re lucky (and have help), some of the higher ones. Well piloted luxury ships will still have the ability to slap you aside, but BFD – you’re only going to have insurance costs at most of 10K or so!
After bringing your Sidey up to combat spec, remember to buff up the sensors, life support, thrusters. Always, always remember to keep your “legs” up – if you dip below 9LY jump capability due to mass, think very very hard about it and NEVER go below 7LY. This probably means no reinforced hull. Whatever.
Then, eventually, sell the whole lot once you’re above 150K or so and buy an Adder, which is a Super Sidey. Follow the same principals. Adders are like baby Cobras – the same “Swiss Army Knife” formula where you get to choose how to want to specialize – fat hauler? Lean murder machine? Jack of all trades privateer? – only smaller and not quite as capable. And cheaper. With a shitty cockpit view.
This is My Method. There are many like it, but this one is Mine.