Hmmm... I'm a newbie too, but here's what I've gathered from my dead characters:
- The freighter is slow, a big target, but it can haul a lot of loot and has the most room for upgrades. It can use two weapon only. It also has the best reactor to start with.
- The Wolfen is fast and small, a very good gun ship early on. But it has the least room for upgrades. It can install three weapons. Its reactor is the weakest one.
- The Sapphire Yacht is in the middle ground of the two.
- The
unofficial forum contains a lot more information and activity than the official one. When registering in the unofficial forum, you need to send the admin an email. He said he's tired of dealing with bots trying to register.
- Armor/shield level seems to be more important than resistance. A level VI shield weak against laser will still be more effective than a level II shield strong against laser.
- Armor/shield with reflect/immunity is exception to the above, if you know you won't face other damage types.
- Watch your power consumption! Weapons drain your fuel when you fire, and shields drain power constantly. Make sure your reactor is on the same level.
- Solar armor or solar module can generate fuel when you are in the center of the system, where the light of the star floods the space.
- Hide if you are outgunned! Park right on top of planet/base/star gate/etc., they can't hit you there. Let your shield regenerate.
- Keep notes of what bases are available in each system. The RNG might force you to back track a lot just to get a new weapon installed.
- Test those unidentified ROMs and barrels with spare armor/weapon, and do it while you're parked on top of a planet/base.
- Find a targeting ROM early. Tracking missiles need that, and you can control your omni weapons that way.
- Interesting stuff are placed around stars and asteroids. You might find some random loot in open space, but they are not worth the fuel usually.
- Be careful about those green-outlined ships. They got radiation. Less than 200 seconds and you're dead.
- Collect star map ROMs fors systems with nebula - they block your radar and slow down your ship.
- Later on you can buy insurance (10K credits) at a special star base. That's basically an amulet of life saving.
- Here's a list of damage types (from primitive to advanced):
laser
kinetic
particle
blast
ion
thermo
positron
plasma
antimatter
nano
graviton
singularity
dark acid
dark steel
dark lightning
dark fire
- Stronger reactors cannot use low level fuels. So be careful if you upgrade - you might run out of fuel if you go back to earlier systems. Also, stronger reactor has a larger fuel capacity.
- Here's a list of reactor types (not complete) and fuels they can use:
25MW: he3 fuel rods
100MW: he3 fuel rods, helium assemblies, heliotrope fuel
250MW: helium assemblies, heliotrope fuel, longzhu spheres, pteracnium rods
500MW: heliotrope fuel, longzhu spheres, pteracnium rods
1000MW (1GW): heliotrope fuel, longzhu spheres, pteracnium rods