Getting started: I got a ship. What's next?

Avorion offers lots of possibilities for the player and one might prefer some playstyles over other ones. This guide attempts to give a basic overview about some of the options a player has after the creation of their first ship. It also contains strategies that have proven their effectiveness when it comes to the achievement of certain goals and is meant to be a help for new players of the game.

### A sidenote on turrets

Any ship without any upgrades installed or permanently installed will have three turret slots available, which consist of one armed, one unarmed and one universal slot. The fact that there are two slots displayed for both weapon types as long as there are no turrets installed does often lead to confusion.

## Making progress on the galaxy chart

### Exploration and progression

While Avorion will not make any rules for playstyle, it shows a clear direction by the fact, that **progress in the game mechanics (better materials, weapons and many more) is connected to the distance from the galaxy's center**. This does not have to automatically determine the players direction of travel in a newly generated galaxy, but it is important to be aware of it, as many players want to have certain features (specific weapons, fighters, shields or other ones) available as soon as possible. A very helpful upgrade to progress faster is the Radar Upgrade, that can be bought at an equipment dock, looted **or simply be obtained by completing the dialogue to the adventurer who will contact the player right after his first jump into inhabited territory as he will gift one to the player**. Another upgrade that might be handy for faster progression is the hyperspace upgrade, as it will allow for overall faster travel.

After the installation of the Radar Upgrade, the galaxy map will show yellow mass signatures in addition to the green energy signatures (visit sector for more information about these). It is recommended to explore some of these sectors as there might be a risk of them being full of hostile ships, but also a chance of large asteroid fields with lots of resources and/or claimable asteroids in them. Additionally there is a chance to find hidden stashes or wreckages that may contain resources as well as cargo. Hidden mass sectors might even contain a beacon needed to activate the Operation Exodus quest or make progress with it.

**The most important reason (in terms of making progress on the galaxy chart) to explore them is the possibility to discover a wormhole though, as these offer very useful shortcuts in many cases.**

While exploring the territory of the start areas factions is unnecessary for players who plan to rush towards the core as fast as possible, but might be of great use for those who want to start trading early on as knowledge of station and especially factory types available in friendly territory is very important to set up trading routes.

### Fighting

Fighting is an important part of Avorion's gameplay and offers **an easy way to get upgrades and weapons**, although it is not necessary to make progress, as these can also be bought from equipment docks. The firepower of both the player and the enemies is shown by their Omicron values and might be helpful to determine whether an attack is reasonable.

**Basic fighting strategies** are the "hit and run" approach (NPC-ships will follow the player, so this is only recommended with a fast ship), that even allows for build mode repairs in the fighting breaks or to only participate in fights between pirates/Xsotan and faction ships. One might also consider the use of torpedoes to quickly get rid of dangerous enemies or even attempt ramming to compensate a lack of own firepower, although this is only recommendable with appropriate ship designs (heavily armed or with "ramming spikes" not included in the ships integrity field) as it can lead to the accidental destruction of the players ship in some cases.

After a fight, it is highly recommended to **scavenge the wreckage**. Even if there are no salvaging lasers available at the moment, this can be done with the normal ship weapons and will still **reward upgrades and weapons**, therefore being a good source of additional equipment.

## Get things running

Sometimes it is necessary to slow down a little and focus on a strengthened position before moving on. The following topics provide basic information on efficient ways to extend the players capabilities.

### Obtaining Credits

Credits make the foundation of early gameplay as they are not just needed to build a ship, but also to hire and pay the crew, for use of the gates or to buy equipment. Unlike in mid and late game, the player will often have enough resources but lack money at the beginning of the game.

A very easy way to obtain credits is to **claim and sell suited asteroids** to the highest bidding faction. Sectors containing these can be found using a Radar Upgrade, while the asteroids themselves can be discovered easily by using the strategy mode (pressing F9) or a C43-Detector Upgrade. Another easy (although only recommended if the player has a lot of them or does not need them) possibility to earn money is **selling materials**. Little amounts of credits are also rewarded as the player helps factions against hostile invaders. **It is not recommended to sell turrets or upgrades**, as the first one can be turned into commodities at a scrapyard, while the second one can be upgraded to a higher rarity at a research station. Some **missions provided by stations** can reward a good amount of credits as well.

While these things can often be done "on the go", a player can also decide to focus his whole playstyle on gaining credits for a period of time by becoming a pirate or a trader. While piracy offers large but flat amounts of credits when done properly, the income of trading will grow exponentially as the capital of the player grows. Note that there is a guide on the basics of piracy as well as a guide on the basics of trading available on the Wiki.

### Obtaining Resources

**The most obvious way to obtain resources is mining**. When doing that there is a few things to be considered: A **mining upgrade** will display the amount of resources in any asteroid within its range and will also reveal **hidden resource block in some normal looking asteroids, that can provide a very large amount of resources in short time**. The mining lasers should provide the best effectiveness, which means the most resources per amount of time and does not necessarily have to mean the best efficiency. It is recommended to **equip multiple lasers as well as lasers made of higher materials** to speed up the mining process. On the transition to midgame the player may also set up a **mining fleet to provide a constant income of materials**. The most simple way to do this is to order a shipyard to make a series of one-block-ships with crew and captain, then apply the a cheap ship design and finally equip it with mining lasers. When the player has obtained a chosen number of such ships, they can be ordered to jump to any system and mine resources.

If a player has a lot of credits, but lacks materials, they can also be **bought at any resource depo**t (prices depend on relations to the owning faction).

**The closer the player gets to the center, the more effective salvaging will become** due to the fact, that ships and stations become stronger and therefore contain more materials. While it does not make a big difference whether wreckages are destroyed by normal weapons or by salvaging lasers when they contain little amounts of materials, **it becomes more and more profitable with the scaling of enemies**. When reaching the Naonite area it is recommended to use them, because **shield generators and other technical blocks contain lots of resources and can be salvaged very fast**.

On rare occasions a player might find a claimable wreckage in hidden mass sectors. The new ship can simply be deleted in building mode to obtain all the embodied resources.

### Obtaining Equipment

As stated before, it is highly recommended to **destroy any wreckages the player encounters as this can reward upgrades and turrets**. Ships may also drop loot in the very moment of their destruction.

Turrets and upgrades (as well as torpedoes and fighters in later stages of the game) can also be **obtained from equipment docks or found in hidden stashes**.

Upgrades and turrets of higher rarity can be **researched at a research station**, although this will only provide useful results with upgrades in most cases.

The **most reliable option to get powerful turrets are turret factories**, that need commodities and credits to produce a chosen amount of turrets. Note that the commodities obtained from turrets at a scrapyard can be used to create new ones at a factory. There is a guide on turret factories available on the Wiki.

**The best upgrades in the game, the XSTN-K upgrades, are obtained during the main storyline of Avorion.**