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[Megas]

With I start, I take Wolf/Shepherd.  Shepherd has capacity, and the Shepherd hangs back like a carrier while the drones distract things.  Shepherd is one of the few transports that are useful in a fight, at least early on.  Problem with Kite, is it primarily a missile ship, and missiles do not last long, and it has low capacity.

[Sarissofoi]

We really need some more start options.
Having for example two Hounds would work great for a smuggler start.

[Megas]

Hound or/and Cerberus would be great if avoiding combat (or running away if caught) is an option.  However, if player starts in Galatia, he must fight his way out.  As long as tutorial start is to be assumed, starter ships need to be able to fight.

Wayfarer is okay at fighting in Galatia, but not for much longer.  As a hauler, it is inferior to a fast freighter that can outrun almost everything (Hound and Cerberus) or act as a carrier (Shepherd).  Since 0.8, Wayfarer is not what it used to be, not unlike Apogee.

There are not very many good combat frigates.  Wolf is as good as it gets without giving the player an overpowered frigate or a bigger ship.  SO Lasher is good, but it is something only experienced players will use effectively (due to SO penalties).

[Wyvern]

There are two things I'd like to point out that I haven't seen mentioned.

1: There are specific pirate groups that spawn for (some? all? I don't know the details) delivery missions and then explicitly try to ambush the player when they go into hyperspace; later in the game, these foes may be laughable, but at the start perhaps not so much.

2: If you're having trouble, don't skip the tutorial.  You may not need what it teaches, but the ships it grants are worth having*.  In particular, the hammerhead is a really good destroyer these days, and you will always get one (and may get one or two railguns for it, too.)

* footnote: I do actually scrap a fair amount of the starting tutorial fleet, once I'm out and about, depending on my logistical situation and what I want to use.  But the hammerhead is a keeper.

[Megas]

Tutorial ships and possible rare weapons are worth it.  MVP (for the boss fight) is the Condor.  There were times I was tempted to start-scum the tutorial for the heavy blaster for my starter Wolf (and the other Wolf clunker gets either Pulse Laser or Graviton Beam, depending on (D) mods).  If I find railguns, those tend to be hoarded until later in the game, especially if I upgrade my Wolf to Medusa.

[Baqar79]

I think there might be some issues with starting game pirate fleet size in some new game starts.

I started a new game just now (tutorial playthrough) and had just left the first tutorial system only to be ambushed by 2 large pirate fleets at the exit point of that first system....Trying to escape that battlefield resulted in the usual expected slaughter, although I should of probably just left the starting condor as bait to allow the faster members of my fleet to escape (not sure if it would of lasted long enough though).

This is why I would like to see some other dialogue options with the pirates, ie some way of paying them off once caught, and here I was feeling rather good after defeating my first remnant battlestation yesterday (A battle which I was forced into by the remant fleet that caught me while I was near the battlestation so that became part of the battle).

In retrospect my comments do seem to suggest I have a problem escaping a lot...well that can be true sometimes , but I have been a lot more careful with my sensor profile to the point that I can now sneak up an analyze bounty fleets composition and make a decision on whether to engage or not, but I will admit I'm still learning to play the game better (playing in iron mode has been very educational when you can't roll back choices and defeats that you don't like), however I feel the recent situation that I ran into was definitely in the region of being "Unfair", especially since it was still during the tutorial mission.

[Seth]

It's amusing to see threads still popping up about game difficulty, while players don't realize how trivial in reality this game is.   

Few "rules" to make life easier for every new player:
- Start on normal and savescum a lot, it's essential to cover the basics, nothing will teach you stuff like your own mistakes.
- If you have a rough start, just re-roll. Personally I can't remember single very rough start for me ever, like two big pirate fleets? Nope.
- Don't ever pick comission, unless you're into non-stop hardcore fighting. If you're trying to roleplay trader, your best bet is to get as friendly as possible with everyone, and even not to *** off pirates too much, at least early game.
- Roleplaying trader (or explorer) at the start is pretty hardcore way to have challenge. Payouts of both are absolutely pathetic, while risks are sky high.
- On some missions which require you to deliver some stuff, it may trigger special pirate event, where they will wait for you at the exit from Hyper and will try to extort you, if you can't beat them, reload and try different mission.
- Bounty hunter is the best (and only tbh) way to build up money and fleet, because payouts are very-very high while you're gonna be up against pretty even opposition (try to go for lowest bounties early on). I hope you're aware about galaxy info panel with random bounties, trade, factions and other useful info.
- Sadly right now, and especially if you're new and don't feel masochistic, ^ it's the only safe start option in the game.

After few hours of bounty hunting, you should be able o afford fleet that steamrolls any pirate armada you can come across (even two), and literally 15 minutes later you will be rocking best ****ing fleet in the galaxy, because rewards are exponential and opposition will be even easier to crush. Earning 500k+ for steamrolling some douches will make you rich quick. The drawback is that everything will feel waaay to easy for you from that point. It's too easy in this game to reach invincible state, where nothing can really mess with you.

After you bought all you ever wanted and been hauling all that stuff on some station with several dozens of millions of credits on your balance, you're ready to start your roleplay and not worry about dying, reloading and stuff. I've got like 10 Astral supercarriers and around 20 of each ship I like with heaps upon heaps of weapons and other equipment, while I'm rolling as trader in some junk ships like Buffalo, Hound, Lasher, Hammerhead with Dram tanker and etc. Yeah, it can feel boring sometimes, but it's one of a kind sandbox in space where you really can roleplay in.

P.S. Really miss the time when everything was so fresh, and felt like challenge, now it somewhat feels like chore, but good and still very unique type of chore. New update will bring even more stuff to play with, really looking forward to it!

[Baqar79]

It's amusing to see threads still popping up about game difficulty, while players don't realize how trivial in reality this game is.  

- Start on normal and savescum a lot, it's essential to cover the basics, nothing will teach you stuff like your own mistakes.
- If you have a rough start, just re-roll. Personally I can't remember single very rough start for me ever, like two big pirate fleets? Nope.

That goes without saying once you have a certain level of familiarity with the game (but it is still a little annoying to be attacked by a completely overwhelming force on a tutorial mission), so I think there would be some benefit by utilizing tighter reigns on the tutorial part of the game; for example, keeping the tutorial pirate fleet composition the same and perhaps some additional checks to make sure there are no large pirate fleets roaming hyperspace on route during the tutorial trip to Corvus.

I also feel it is wrong to point out that because you yourself don't experience an issue, it isn't one (I'm referring to your comment on the large pirate fleets that you yourself have never come across).  I came across this for the first time myself, so while rare, I don't think it is a completely ignorable problem; and while it is merely annoying to myself, for a newer player it could have a much larger impact in how they see the game, and to whether they continue to invest more time learning how to play.

I still absolutely love the game and whether something is done about the tutorial side of things isn't going to change that, but I don't think there is any harm pointing out the issues I myself have run into.

[Linnis]

I think I am just unlucky, but this is the worst start I have ever had. I think the game really hates me. I don't know what to do, I die instantly when I leave the system. What the hell is going on? I didn't take the commission either.

You won't get far if you cannot get comfortable piloting a frigate and beating pirates with sub-par frigates in situations like 5-1 odds. Really suggest you get some combat experience first before deciding to try and run around in the sector. You can level up your character and stay evenly afloat by having a small 2-3 ship fleet. One ship you pilot yourself, a combat frigate that is able to move around quickly. A drone tender or some sturdy frigate for your AI so he can help create openings where you can get damage in. Then also a Hound or a shuttle for grabbing some minimal loot.

Stay in Jangala system, fly around and fight other small pirate fleets. Or you can follow other neutral or friendly fleets and help them in combat. Science the degree and you should be able to keep operating cost well under control.

Good ships to start with are the Wolf and Lasher. While centurion and Brawler bring alot of firepower, they are too slow and you will soon realize speed > power without fighters in the mix.


This is the easy way:

-Start with wolf and another frigate for supplies.
-Fight some 2-3 small frigate pirate fleets.
-Scavenge everything, all the debris left by the larger fleets.
-Get a carrier, Dover or Condor.
-Fight larger pirate fleets, jump through holes with friendly hegemony fleets.
-Get another carrier or pilot a destroyer.
-Start taking bounty missions.
-Add more ships and officers after every fight, Don't be afraid to use salvaged ships, their repairs are cheap and manpower(crew) is the cheapest thing in the game.
-Sometimes the bounties get too hard suddenly, you can tell by the amount of money offered. If so I recommend trimming down the fleet and flying around the sector doing scanning missions or grinding out REDACTED fleets.

After 4-5 hours usually, a death ball would have formed and nothing short of 4-5 system defense fleets in a row will stop it.

[Daquan_Baton]

I really appreciate the reply! I'll explain my current situation in a bit more depth.

My current campaign is that of a hegemony merchant. I have 2 buffalos, 1 Dram, 2 enforcers and 3 lashers. I have the hegemony commission and I sometimes kill pirates, but most of the time I enjoy doing shipments. Shipments are really cool because I can make a rather steady profit with little in the way of risks since I don't have to fight. So I run around between the hegemony star systems and do trading stuff. When I'm out into hyperspace, the Tri-Tachyon (and sometimes pirate armadas and Persean League) is everywhere trying to murder me.

Most of the time I keep my transponder on because I *always* forget to turn it back on and I get enough patrol attention from my smuggling activities and it's rather annoying. But even when I have it off, I often get Tri-Tachyon fleets flying in and destroying me. There's four things that can happen:

- The fleet is waiting for me near a jump point and I can't evade them in time
- The fleet is at sustained burn, going max speed, and happens to cross my path
- The fleet catches me with an interdiction pulse then emergency burns to reach me
- I'm trying to evade a fleet and I run into another one

This happens with pirate armadas as well. I know my fleet is pretty weak, but I kinda wish I could play more of a low-profile merchant fleet with 9 burn speed. Also even if I had tarsus which could escape, my main forces would still die. The AI isn't smart enough to keep up 0-flux under enemy fire, even at full retreat, so they always slow down and get destroyed. I'm planning on getting a big fleet one day when I make enough money from trading, but in the meantime I can't beat the huge fleets.

One thing you can do that will mitigate or at least put a dent in your issue is to, honestly, constantly be in sustained burn. Also, when leveling up you should divert 6 points towards the blue column (I forgot the name of it), 3 points maxing out the column, and the remaining put into the last upgrade on the list that increases your sustained burn speed by 5 and reduces fuel consumption by 25%. This allows you to easily outrun chasers, and if your reflexes are sharp enough, dodge interceptors and path-crossers. Also the "Industry" column has an upgrade section that removes the CR cost when activating emergency burn, which really helps, even more I would imagine for a merchant. Another upgrade in fleet management is one that reduces the monthly upkeep of all ships by 25%, I believe it only requires 4 points total, unlike the aforementioned upgrades, which require 6 total.

Missions that require you to go searching for sensor packages on the outskirts of the galaxy are easy and low-risk credits too, they give a pretty large pay (c40,000+) and, at least from my experiences with the transponder off or not, little to no attackers, there is the occasional independent salvage fleet that will turn pirate when you're close, but they're somewhere around 3 times the size of a starter fleet and are slow and easily detectable, so if you're constantly in sustained burn like I said earlier, you should be absolutely fine. Around 400 units of fuel will get you to the outskirts and back, but you will undoubtedly come back with somewhere around half of that if you're salvaging and using sensor bursts in random systems that you pass by on the way to the sensor package mission.

Sensor package missions will also lead you to different systems with loot in them, when scanning salvages you can recover or catch the fainting signal of a scan that was previously made by whatever you're currently scanning before it became something only worth salvaging, it can lead you to other systems that could be holding a weapon or equipment cache, a category one derelict (minimum damage) or something containing a type 1-5 planetary scan (type 3-5 will yield c30,000 to c150,000 as the type increases, not accounting for tariffs, if you want the full price then sell it on the black market).

Hopefully this helps  , these tactics work for me when I'm starting out, and I'm not to experienced myself honestly . 

[JDCollie]

You mentioned you're roleplaying a merchant? You really should look into the Shepard-class drone tender that others have mentioned earlier. It serves as both a cheap little freighter, as well as one of the cheapest fighter screens in the game. Early pirates have very inefficient shields or lack them entirely, so the low-but-consistent damage inflicted by Shepard drones will really begin to add up over time. If nothing else, they will tie up enemy ships preventing them from flanking you.

I always go with the Wayfarer start as well, as I really like the trade approach, but I always try an score myself a Lasher-class frigate as soon as I can. (The Wolf is more lethal as a player ship, but I find that the Lasher is more forgiving) For it's cost/CR it's an utter beast of a vessel, and makes an excellent starting flagship. Once you get a feel for combat, a player-piloted Lasher + two or three Shepards to screen out the opposition will allow you to easily put down any pirate group capable of catching your frigate fleet. Drams fit well as fuel carriers; they're fast and cheap. Avoid the Brawler, it's a fleet fighter designed to escort destroyers, not chase frigates.

Also, I know it's been mentioned before, but seriously, AVOID COMMISSIONS. Taking a commission is literally declaring war on anyone at war with your chosen faction. This makes you free game for everything from basic frigate patrols right on up to planetary defense fleets, regardless of your fleet's size or composition. Only take a commission when you want to dance with the big boys.

If push comes to shove and you really can't figure out how to survive without constant save scumming, look at some Let's Plays on YouTube. (Most are modded, but the basic principles about how to manage you fleet strategically still translate to unmodded well.)  Nemonaemo usually has one or more for each current version, and he almost never reloads his saves. FallenShogun has a few too, and while he often struggles, he too manages to survive and even thrive. That may give you some ideas about what you need to change that you haven't been able to communicate to us, or we haven't picked up on/understood.

[TheWetFish]

Do consider the sensor side of things, in particular your fleet's sensor profile.  The less you can be seen the less you will be hunted and the easier it is to lose them if they do spot you.  You can hover over the sensor profile and hit F1 to bring up an expanded, detailed breakdown of it 


As already noted, having your transponder on when not needed is a huge disadvantage and the transponder reminders mod may be a huge quality of life improvement 

Some other things to try may include swapping out standard (blue-yellow) Buffalo with it's sensor profile disadvantaging civilian-grade hull for the (orange-yellow) militarized Hegemony auxiliary version, which lacks that civilian disadvantage 

The Go Dark ability can be turned on between choosing to transit to hyperspace and the transit itself, potentially providing a critical few seconds to asses the local hyperspace situation before disengaging it and moving off.  This can potentially be combined with level 2 of the Sensors skill in the Technology skill tree to provide a much more extreme reduction in sensor profile 

On the ship fittings side of things do consider the Insulated Engine Assembly hullmod