Quick Start

# Select the Options menu item.
# In the Game Settings tab, set your volume sliders, graphics options, difficulty, gameplay options, etc. Consider taking the Notification Dismiss slider to 0.0x for this first playthrough. When you're satisfied, switch to the Keybindings tab.
# Note your controls for movement, Interact, Turbo thrust, Toggle Autothrust, Toggle Turbothrust, Ship Management, Map, QuickSave and Quickload.
# Switch to the Controller tab if you are using a game controller.
# Select the New Game menu item
# Adjust your ship commander's name & vessel name, if you wish
# Feel free to slide the difficulty to Very Easy until you complete the game's tutorial phase(s)
# Start the game
# Note your operational orders on the screen but do not feel the need to record them in detail
# Observe that the dialogue windows at the upper left will dismiss only when you close them.
Follow the rules below:
* Save Early, Save Often.
* Listen to your first officer.
* Read everything.
* Talk to everyone until you exhaust any new dialogue with them.
* Scan, investigate, interact with, and survey everything possible – especially before you fire on it.
* Activate any Remnant Gateway you come across.
* Be nice to people & make allies.
By the time you have completed the first two missions, you should have a grasp of e.g.:
* Ship movement (acceleration, braking, turning).
* HUD navigation
* Weapons aiming and firing
* Investigate / Hail / Scan / Survey / etc. a nearby vessel or anomaly.
By the time you have completed the next two missions, you should have a grasp of e.g.:
* Add, remove, reposition, rotate, mirror, etc. hull modules in the Shipyard
* Research technologies in the Research lab
* Basic space combat against other spacecraft
* Basic space combat against fixed installations ('space stations')
* Collection of resource drops from destroyed enemy hulls
* Collection of artifact drops from destroyed enemy hulls
* Use and navigation of the galactic map
* Analysis of artifact drops for research points.
By the time you have completed the fifth mission, Beyond the Gateway, you should have a grasp of e.g.:
* Independent / concurrent missions
* Activation and use of Gateway wormholes for rapid interstellar travel
* Use of flinger gates for rapid local travel
If you need information on more advanced subjects, the staff of Celaeno Station have dialogue options which you may find informative.