Your First Day

Your first day in the world of Elite Dangerous is going to be one of wonder and awe! I promise. It’s amazing how the entire MilkyWay has been modelled and is available to explore, to trade in and to fight in! It will also be one of intense confusion and frustration. There’s no doubt about it, there’s a VERY steep learning curve and your first day will be spent learning the ropes. There’re plenty of things I wished I’d known on my first day. It would have made that learning curve a lot easier

I seriously recommend that you do the tutorial at the start. It’ll take you through the real basics of getting going, flying, landing, turning, jumping, fighting, etc. It won’t take long and it’ll orient you in the game. It’s also worth getting Voice Attack! It’s fun and it’ll save having to learn all those keybinds right now. Also, use the computer to take off and land. At least for now. Your first day is going to be complex enough, without having to deal with twitchy controls in a confined space. You’ve got plenty of time to practice manual landings!

The first thing you’re going to want to do after the tutorial is to hop into your Sidewinder and head off to make some money. The tutorial will give you a mission. Head back to Coelho Station in Matet and pick up some cash. Do it! Any cash is good cash right now and, if you want to get out of the Pilot’s Federation area and into The Bubble for real, you’ll need cash to buy and equip a better ship. Coelho Station in Matet is a good place to become confident with the basics (before heading into Open play) and trying out a few of the options Elite Dangerous gives you in the safety of the Pilot’s Federation area.

Follow this guide and your first day will be a day to remember. I’ll take you on a journey towards your first million credits and a ship to help you continue your chosen career, whatever that may be. We’ll do some flying, some sight-seeing and some trading. Do this loop a couple of times and you’ll be well on your way.

Matet: Coelho Station: Pick up as many Courier Jobs as you can going to Dromi, Orna and Otegine. They’re all well within jump distance for your shiny new STOCK Sidewinder, so you won’t need a fuel scoop. Also, go to the Commodities Market and buy four lots of Liquor. It’s not for a First Day Party. You’re going to sell it in Dromi.

Dromi: Masson Dock: Hand in any courier missions you have in the Station …Pick up as many Courier Jobs as you can going to Orna and Otegine, and back to Matet. Sell your Liquor – for a profit. It won’t be much but, as I said, every little helps. While you’re in Dromi, buy some Medical Diagnostic Equipment. Your Sidewinder will only hold fourThis is to sell in Fuzong Base in Orna; your next stop. If you like, you can head out to Dimery Prospect and see if they’ve got any courier work too.

Orna: Head for Fuzong Base and sell your Medical Diagnostic Equipment. Hand in any courier missions you have and search the mission board for any going to Dromi, Otegine or back to Matet. In the Commodities Market, buy four lots of Scrap. They’ll buy this from you at Aldrich Station in Otegine. You may find you’ve picked up some courier missions for Schouten Hope. If you have, head there before leaving the system.

Now head for Otegine and Aldrich Station. Aldrich Stations is a…. Well, I’ll leave that for you to find out. A quick word of advice though. Approach slowly! Once you’ve landed, sell the scrap, hand in any courier missions and search for more going to Orna, Dromi and Matet. You’re going to buy Aluminium from here.

You should now have seen some sights including a couple of different star types and some fabulous planets. You’ll also have seen Aldrich Station. If you fancy having a go at some combat as you go, pick up a couple of the basic combat missions too. The Sidewinder isn’t great for combat, but it’ll do for the Pilot’s Federation area. You can hand in the combat missions for some extra cash along the way.

When you’re picking up the missions, it doesn’t matter who they’re for. You’ll earn allegiance and reputation along with cash, but you won’t need it once you leave. You can’t come back. Also, unless you really want to learn how they work now, there’s no point in buying system or planetary scanners for your Sidewinder. None of these systems are far enough apart that you can sell the data. You need to be 20 light years from the scanned system for a pay out.

Now you’re going to go back to Matet the same way you came, picking up more courier missions and buying more commodities to sell as you go.

This way round though: buy, Aluminium from Otegine to sell in Orna. Buy nothing in Orna (they don’t seem to produce much that other people want!), buy Agronomic Treatment in Dromi and sell it in Matet. Now you’ve completed one loop. You’ll probably have picked up courier missions to be handed in in the other systems, so it’s time to head back out again. Buy Liquor and jump back to Dromi!

A couple of loops like this and you’ll be well on your way to your first million. I had over 650,000 credits after my second loop, but it’ll depend on how lucky you are with the mission board. Three times around should definitely do the trick, and get you up a level in trading too. Once you’ve increased in level, you’ll be able to pick up a mission to take you out of the Pilot’s Federation area. Pick it up and save it for when you feel that you’re ready to head out into the big wide galaxy. It’ll also give you another 100,000 credits to add to your ever bulging wallet. And it’s only a short hop from Matet.

When you’re ready, jump in your Sidewinder and head out into the galaxy. Buy your next ship from there. You’ve got plenty of cash by now, so there are many ships to choose from. Whatever you want to do in the galaxy, you can. Just never fly without rebuy! Make sure you’ve got enough to buy back your ship if (when) it gets destroyed and that you’ve got enough to kit it out to enable it to do what you want with it.

Enjoy Commanders and I’ll see you in The Black. o7