Elite Dangerous – Beginners’ Guide

I have an incredible love for Elite Dangerous. With over 4,000 hours in game, and as an ambassador for Elite and Frontier, I’ve had beautiful experiences both in game and in real life. I recently noticed that most of the helpful guides for Elite are videos. These are (of course) incredibly helpful resources, but if you’re anything like me, you might prefer to have things written down and easier to scan and search.

As such, I thought I would bring you my top tips for getting started in Elite Dangerous in 2023. In no particular order, I’ll cover my most helpful hints, to get you on your way in a galaxy which does not hold your hand. This guide has also been updated to now include tips for Elite Dangerous Odyssey. This significant expansion has really opened up the available missions and on-foot gameplay is definitely worth sticking your teeth into.

You might also want to take a look at our guides for backing up key bindings, and Elite’s error codes and typical fixes.

The whole galaxy awaits you, so get on with it!

Tutorials are your friend

It may seem like common sense, but the tutorials really are the best place to start in Elite. There are a number of training simulations, challenges and videos available from the main menu when you load up. These will offer guidance, but more importantly they provide a space for you to get things wrong with no consequences.

Elite currently offers 9 pilot-training simulations, 10 challenge scenarios and 26 training videos. It also provides a narrative on-foot training mission and a pilots’ licence testing mission as well. It’s worth doing all of these (maybe skip some videos if you’re confident) before you get started with your own CMDR.

Join a Squadron or Player Group

Squadrons within Elite are an amazing place to find folks to help you get started. As well as this, a good squadron will also provide short and long term goals. Squadrons are player groups, and are these days available directly in game. You’ll also often find that they communicate using Discord, Facebook, WhatsApp and other real world solutions. You’ll also often find real world connections, as well as people to play with just within Elite.

Of course, I’d recommend our own Pixel Bandits Squadron, the PBSF. We’ve been in game for a number of years and operate over all Elite platforms. We were also (while it was still running) one of very few “Triple Elite” rated player groups. However we’re not the only ones out there. For a friendly and welcoming group who provide support and friendship, I’d also highly recommend

  • The Hutton Orbital Radio Truckers
  • The Fatherhood
  • EXO
  • IED
  • Radio Sidewinder
  • The bubble is a great hub of human civilisation, but don’t be afraid to dream bigger

    Don’t be afraid to ask

    While Squadrons and Player Groups are handy, they aren’t the only places to seek help. Wider community groups such as the Elite Dangerous Community on Facebook are a wonderful source of guidance. They’re also a good place to share your adventure with screenshots, videos and (of course) Elite Dangerous memes.

    The EDC (for one) has thousands of experienced commanders to give advice on your journey, ships, projects and goals. You can also find Elite news and patch notes as well. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention the official Frontier Developments Forums. While typically not quite as friendly a place, you can still find good information here.

    Never (ever) fly without your rebuy

    This is one of our most important tips for Elite. If you don’t have the credits to cover your current insurance premium, your ship will be lost forever if it gets destroyed. It doesn’t matter if it’s an NPC, another CMDR or your own stupidity (it happens, even for veterans), you’ll lose the ship, as well as all data and cargo on board.The insurance cost – known as the “rebuy” – is based on the cost of your ship, and any modifications you’ve made to it.

    The rebuy cost is listed within your right hand “internal” panel, next to your credit balance. When (no, not “if”) your ship undergoes a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, paying this insurance premium will return your ship and all modules to you at the nearest starport to your unfortunate termination. While it won’t return exploration data or cargo, the rebuy cost is a fraction of what you’d need to spend to buy your ship and modules all over again.

    If your current bank balance is less than the rebuy cost you have a couple of options. Firstly, you are able to take out a small loan to cover the cost, which is then taken automatically out of future profit until paid off. Secondly, you can deselect modules in order to lower the rebuy cost. This means that the modules you’ve deselected will not be returned with the rest of the ship, and must be repurchased (and re-engineered if you have modified them). The last option, sadly, is to simply lose the ship, and purchase it again at full price.

    It is of course easier to just ensure that your credit balance remains above your current rebuy costs.

    Once you’re on to the bigger ships, not having your rebuy means saving up another 30 million credits

    Don’t forget the codex

    The Codex is available on your right hand “systems” homescreen, and is a great window into the galaxy. As well as holding your own in depth statistics the Codex also contains a huge amount of game lore, and information on interesting things to see in game. In the codex you can read up on a host of different topics, to properly understand the background of Elite and the story which has been woven so far. You can also listen to this as you are playing, by adding to your playlist which will accompany you as you go about whatever it is you love doing in the game.

    The Discoveries section is also a great way to find interesting things within the absolutely huge playing area. Whether you are looking for alien ruins, life forms, geological structure and galactic phenomena, it’ll be listed in here. Viewing on a per-galactic-sector basis, this makes it really easy to find these exciting areas within the galaxy, which are otherwise very easy to miss.

    Bigger is not always better

    We all start the game in the same ship. The exotic, the tantalising, the somewhat-broken-but-holding-well-enough-together-with-duct-tape Sidewinder. It’s easy to set your sights on larger ships such as the Anaconda, Beluga, Corvette or Cutter, but I would stress that it’s important to enjoy the smaller ships in themselves rather than using them as a stop gap. As well as having much less financial cost if you lose them there’s a lot to be said for small and medium sized vessels. I would definitely recommend taking the time to explore the different options available rather than simply grinding away to get the largest ship you can.

    Smaller ships can be awesome as racers, and they look pretty epic as well.

    Engineering can be vital

    Whether you are taking part in PvP, exploring the furthest regions of space, or simply want to make your ships straighten up and fly right, engineering can be a worthwhile step in game. In order to take advantage of engineers (always located on a planet’s surface) you’ll need the Horizons expansion. However, as mentioned already, this is definitely a recommended purchase. Engineering can be thought of in the same way that you may think of tuning in titles such as Need for Speed or Forza. It’s all well and good buying bigger and better weapons and modules, but you won’t reach peak performance until they are fully engineered.

    You’ll unlock Engineers in various ways, and each will specialise in different areas. As well as making modules better overall, they can often also add experimental effects, to further benefit your play style.

    Follow the community greats

    As well as Frontier’s own social channels for Elite and overall, it’s worth keeping an eye on the influencers. Content creators over on the various platforms can act as a great source of news for the title, broken into bite size chunks. It also of course comes with a heavy smattering of opinion, both negative and positive. I don’t always agree with their opinions myself, but am able to make some great recommendations. If you’re looking for some independent factual, helpful and constructively critical voices, have a look at;

    Don’t buy the Asp Scout

    Seriously. Just don’t.

    Why would you, when the Asp Explorer exists

    Keep your needle in the blue

    Having your throttle in the blue zone brings you to the most manoeuvrable speed. As well as being great for throwing your kite around the place, if you keep it in the blue during supercruise you are much less likely to overshoot your target destination. If you really have to get somewhere fast, stay at full throttle until your timer reaches around 7 seconds, and then pull it down into the lower half of the blue zone to avoid the Loop of Shame.

    Follow your Navball

    It took me quite a while to fully decipher the Navball, but it’s a great little piece of kit. This little globe compass reminds me of those floating compasses you used to get in 90s cars, only it’s actually useful. Most will already know that when searching for your targeted system or planet the navball reads with solid in front and hollow behind. Even with just this in mind it’s well worth keeping an eye on. It took me over 2,000 hours in game to realise (because another commander pointed it out) that it also points to your landing pad while docking! What a nifty bit of kit!

    Slow down

    When flying around crowded space stations, ensure you keep your speed below 100m/s. This is the speed limit within the station and in the immediate vicinity. If you crash into any ships going above this speed, then you incur fines and possibly worse. If a collision with your ship destroys the other vessel, you’ll be wanted for murder no matter how accidental it was.

    Batman is even in space now, it seems.

    Practice Docking

    Docking is difficult. Really! There’s literally a book dedicated to it. It can be tempting to throw on a docking computer, god knows I take full advantage on my Beluga, but I would absolutely suggest getting practice on manual docking while you’re fresh to the game. Everybody does it their own way, using controls which suit them. Whichever way you do it, learning to smoothly dock and depart manually gives muscle memory which can help out in many different situations too. It’s definitely worth trying to get to grips with this while you still have your sidewinder. While every ship is a little different, having the minimal rebuy cost means you can perfect things with little to no risk.

    Supercruise Assist is beautiful

    This is especially true if you, like me, love a bit of exploration. The supercruise assist module is a great asset for ensuring that you don’t fly past your intended targets. For exploration however, it really comes into its own and provides valuable benefits. Namely, you are able to use the detailed surface scanner module while orbiting bodies using SC assist. For larger gas giants, sometimes you will be unable to due to the speed required for orbit, however 99% of the time SC assist will fly you around the body while you map it.

    The right suit

    When you’re starting out, it’s important to make sure you have the essentials before setting off on foot. There are currently four suits available. All pilots begin with Remlok’s standard Flight Suit. This will keep you safe, but the Remlok suit doesn’t provide any special tools, and only one secondary weapon slot. While you will get the profile analyser and energylink devices, this suit will leave you wanting more.

    Other suits are available to purchase within the on-station Pioneer Supplies stores. Which one you’ll need will depend entirely on what missions you’re looking to take, as they are built for specific purposes.

    The Artemis suit from Supratech is focused on science and exploration. It has less defence than the Dominator, and can’t hold as much as the Maverick, but it provides the Genetic Sampler which you’ll need to take samples of life along your travels. The Artemis suit will hold a primary weapon as well as secondary, and it also has the best jetpack currently in game.

    Manticore’s Dominator suit is built for war. This one comes with two primary weapon slots as well as a secondary, and has the highest damage resistance on the market. The Dominator also has enhanced capacity for consumables such as grenades and medkits. If you’re heading into a warzone, the Dominator is definitely the suit you want protecting you.

    The Maverick, built by Remlok, is perfect for scavengers and sneaky Simons. The Maverick has the highest carrying capacity of the available suits, and it comes with an arc cutter. This tool will allow you to bypass security plates and unlock various doors, cupboards and panels. This suit is invaluable for scavengers and sneak thieves

    With each suit having its own particular focus, selecting the right one is invaluable. I keep a loadout of each saved, to ensure that I can head back to my ship or SRV and swap them out as needed while I am on planet.

    If you’re not prepared, planet surfaces are incredibly hostile places

    Don’t eject all cargo

    If you are playing on PC then you will have a default keyboard mapping for the Eject All Cargo function. Needless to say this is very very silly, and you should unmap this at once. With the times you would have use for it being very few and increasingly far between, the danger of accidentally relieving yourself of precious cargo is simply not worth it. Unmap this as soon as you get in game, to make sure you don’t accidentally pirate yourself.

    Upgraded equipment

    While getting the right suit is important, you can also get upgraded suits and weapons. You can achieve this in one of three ways.

    Firstly, it’s possible to find higher-level on-foot suits and weapons to purchase outright, within quieter stations. The trick here is simply to find stations which other CMDRs haven’t visited recently. This is usually possible using third-party sites, but some Player Groups (including our own PBSF) also have chats and notifications for group members when higher-level equipment is seen.

    You can also work to loot and scavenge materials to upgrade your suit yourself. When you have the right materials, heading to Pioneer Supplies will let you upgrade equipment to higher levels. If you don’t have the right materials, you can head out to scavenge more, or look to trade with bartenders who are available pretty much everywhere.

    On top of these, suits can be upgraded with engineering! You’ll have to have a suit above first level in order to do this, but once upgraded you can add various engineering as well. This includes the things you might expect such as better damage or increased resistance. However, you can also add features such as night vision,, enhance sprint duration or dampen the sound of your footsteps.

    Head into a war zone and you’ll be thankful you took the time to upgrade

    Third party sites

    Elite is a beautiful game and god knows I love it, but I will fully admit that it doesn’t contain all the info for commanders. With this in mind, there are a number of third party sites which can help you get more out of the title. These sites can help track your progress, build ships, find items in game, share your adventure and more. Some of them such as Inara and EDSM can even pull your data directly out of the game on both PC and console. For third party sites, I’d heartily recommend;

    Don’t flip out if you get killed

    If you play in Open, you will likely experience the best and worst which the galaxy has to offer. Elite is a game where as long as you’re playing within the rules, anything goes. This includes attacking and destroying other commanders for any reason or no reason at all. There are Solo or Private Group modes where your dangers in game can be minimised or eliminated entirely, but I do think Open play is worth dipping into.

    The biggest tip I can give if you get blown up by another commander, is not to post about it online. Typically, the type of commander who is whaling on newer or weaker players is one who is looking to upset folks. Salt Miners such as this only get more kicks out of seeing their victims post online to complain about getting wasted in game. The best thing to do to minimise your upset (and believe me on this, I’ve faced a fair amount of this sort of thing over the years) is ignoring it and getting on with your day.

    Take a moment to chill, if you get killed, and then just get back out there

    don’t overlook the bartender

    So. Bartenders don’t help you to get drunk. What’s that about? However, they are vital in trading scavenged materials to help you upgrade suits and weapons. If you don’t quite have enough to buff your equipment, visit the bartender and see what you can barter with. You might only be a few minutes away from upgrading, instead of having to go out and (hopefully) find materials on your travels.

    Dealing with Interdiction

    One thing which you can do to help minimise your danger in game is learning to properly handle interdictions. When you are being interdicted there are a few things you can do to better your chances to escape. When you are being interdicted, I recommend the following steps;

    • 1 – Check the Radar: If it’s solid it’s an NPC and you can fight or run as you like. If it’s hollow, it’s a commander. You best bet is to follow the next steps
    • 2 – Submit: Lower speed to zero (submit to the interdiction)
    • 3 – Power Distributor: Set 4 pips to shields, and 2 to Engines
    • 4 – Evade: When dropped, turn 180, boost and set throttle to max
    • 5 – Plot a system: In the Navigation menu, get to the first in range system you can, select it and engage hyperdrive
    • 6 – Fly right: Make sure you are pointed at the system, fire chaff or heat sinks if you have them, and hope for the best

    These steps can help in a few ways. Step 2, submitting to the interdiction, means that your FSD cooldown is much shorter when you drop. Following step 3 will mean your shields have the best regenerative power they can. Step 4 means that when your attacker is coming for you, they have to perform a sharp turn which they are likely not expecting and which will take time. Step 5 may actually be the most important. If you jump back up to local space there are two major problems. Firstly you can be mass locked by large ships when jumping locally, but as a high wake you don’t suffer the same penalty. Secondly if you jump to another system, it would take the commander much longer, or maybe make it impossible for them to track you.

    The Scorpion SRV is a great planet-side combat option

    Settlement operations

    One of my favourite things to do in Elite Dangerous Odyssey is sneak into and around settlements. Abandoned settlements, thriving settlements, as many as possible. If you have a mission which has taken you here, you can help yourself in a few ways, depending on how the settlement is functioning.

    Firstly, terminals dotted around the settlement can be invaluable. If they are powered off, you can restore power individually by using your energylink device. You can also restore power to the entire settlement, if you have a working power regulator (the holy grail of scavenging).

    When powered, you can browse through terminals to locate buildings, people and even individual areas or items (such as lockers or containers) which you need. These will then pop up on the HUD, making it a breeze to find them.

    While powering up an abandoned settlement can make life easier, powering down or crippling security for an active one can also provide real benefits. Powering down systems requires an awful lot of security clearance, but there are ways around this as well.

    Disabling alarms and security clearance requirements is one of the first things to do when infiltrating an active settlement (after scoping it out properly, first, of course). Security controls are located in the CMD building for larger bases, and in PWR where settlements don’t have a separate CMD building. If you get lost, remember you can find these using the terminals.

    You’ll have to find a way into the building first. This can be done by copying clearance using the illegal form of the profile analyser. You could also cut the panel and use the energylink device to overload it. You can also literally just stand by the door and wait for an NPC to open it for you. As long as you don’t do anything dodgy, you can walk straight in.

    You’ll definitely need some security clearance to access security controls. You’ll need to use the profile analyser (illegally) to do this, so make sure nobody is watching. Helpfully, you can also steal profile data from NPCs when they are incapacitated or dead, so that’s something. Once you have the right profile details, you should disable all security clearance requirements at the appropriate panel, and then immediately remove the stolen security clearance (bind a button to this function!).

    After you have done this, also disable the settlement alarms. This will mean that if any NPCs turn hostile towards you, it will only be NPCs in that immediate area – as long as you don’t make too much of a scene. After this, you’re pretty much free to explore the facility at your leisure, downloading any data you want. If you make sure nobody directly sees you being nefarious, all’s right with the world.

    Follow the socials

    Frontier’s social media accounts for Elite and overall development are definitely worth following. Keeping up to date with these will ensure that you don’t miss any official Elite news. You’ll also find information on their other games, giveaways and more here. With all this in mind, it’s always worth keeping in touch in this way wherever possible.

    for instance, the tools you need to blow up asteroids are “lots of bombs”

    Use the right tools

    With thanks to CMDR ApexMutilation

    As a beginner, the weapons to select for your loadout can be a little confusing. It’s worth taking some time to plan this if you’re looking at a combat oriented ship. While there are a lot of variables between weapons, there are some basics to consider when putting your ship together. Firstly, having a good mix of thermal and kinetic weapons is essential. Thermal Weapons have a distinctly better damage rate for shields, while kinetic weapons produce better hull damage. With this in mind, it’s a good idea to get a mix of both for your first unengineered combat vessel. Separating them between triggers and fire groups is also a great start.

    As well as this, if you are anything like me, you’ll struggle to hit any target in your first days. Fixed weapons suck for aiming with, and even after a little practice and many hours in game I still don’t like them. Gimballed weapons will increase your chances greatly, as they automatically track your target to a large extent. Fitting gimballed weapons to your hardpoints, where they are available, is a great first step at increasing your accuracy in battle.

    That said, it’s definitely worth practising when you can, to get better at hitting with fixed munitions. While gimballed or turreted weapons will do a lot to help you aim, they both come with damage penalties. Essentially, the easier it is to target your foe, the less damage you’ll do. It’s not hugely noticeable, especially when the hard hitting weapons don’t hit at all, but worth considering as your skills improve.

    Avoid VR

    If you are on console this is easy as Elite has no VR capability. If you’re on PC though this becomes a little trickier. I definitely recommend that you avoid VR on PC. If you fail to do this, you may lose all contact with your family and friends. You will also almost certainly lose many hundreds of pounds from your bank and every waking hour from your days. Elite is an absolute flagship VR title and immersive beyond what you could imagine. You will lose everything. It would still be worth it.

    Switch out the boost button

    Especially prevalent when playing on consoles where Boost and Landing Gear functions are very similar. I have lost count of the number of commanders I have seen accidentally use boost instead of lowering their landing gear. Remap the boost function as soon as possible to ensure it’s something you can’t hit accidentally. This is of course something I have never ever done myself, no sir. Not me. Nuh-uh.

    Explore Efficiently

    With thanks to CMDR hood117

    If, like me, you are heading into exploration, there are a couple of things you can do to make your life easier. The first thing is ensure you have a button mapped for “target next system in route”. This means that while you’re following a programmed route, you have a tether to pull back to when you (inevitably) get sidetracked by something shiny. With this mapped, you are able to target bodies or points of interest in the system, visit, and then instantly flick your target back to the next jump.

    Another step for explorers is to fit the Supercruise Assist module. This is so great it has its own separate section which you should already have ready through above

    Heading out into the black can be daunting, but rewarding

    Watch your fuel

    Elite is a very simmy sim, and if you don’t keep an eye on your fuel levels you could be truly stuck. Without fuel you can’t jump, and eventually even life support will run out. There are a few different aspects to keep on your mind here. Firstly, when plotting a route on the Galaxy Map a solid line indicates a journey which you can complete with the current fuel load. A dashed line indicates a plotted route which you do not have enough fuel for.

    Fuel Scooping

    Secondly, it’s worth having a fuel scoop for any journey of a decent length, or which takes you outside the bubble (human inhabited space). Where you don’t get humans, you don’t get space stations (or the other way around) and so you’ll have to syphon fuel from the stars themselves. Even if you do have a fuel scoop, only certain stars can help to recharge your tanks. These stars are all of class KGB FOAM. When viewing a route on the Galaxy Map it will point out your “fuel star” this is the last KGB FOAM star which is within your current range of fuel.

    Fuel Rats

    Lastly, if all else fails and you are sitting there with no fuel waiting for your CMDR to die, the Fuel Rats. This is a group which formed early in the history of Elite Dangerous, dedicated to helping stranded commanders. If you have run out of fuel, head over here to request help. They will dispatch a pilot as soon as possible to come and refuel you and let you get about your journey.

    It’s hard to speak about them without enthusing about how great they are. The Fuel Rats have been in gaming news, and saved thousands of commanders both near and far. I’ve performed one rescue with them myself, and having seen the inside of the machine (sadly don’t have the time to dedicate at the moment) I can personally vouch that these commanders are truly dedicated and caring.

    Bask, when you get a moment, and take in the glory of our own Milky Way

    Don’t chase money

    It’s always easy to go for the next bigger thing, and chasing credits is a part of that. I would definitely suggest avoiding things like mining and other cash heavy pursuits until at least a little way into your game. These days it’s fairly easy to work as a new player, and earn enough to purchase the largest ship in the game within a couple of days. However I believe that this does detract from overall enjoyment of the title, and is a bad step for new players to take.

    I have approaching 3,000 hours in the game at the time of writing. It’s more than a few, and also less than a few so I am not saying that I’m a true Elite authority. However I do think one thing which has led to having so many hours in game is simply doing what I’ve felt like instead of chasing after funds. Enjoy the smaller ships, enjoy the sights and the gameplay. Elite has a lot to offer you, and in my opinion very little of it is based on the balance of your bank.

    That’s about it!

    That just about covers all the tips I can think of for new players. It’s definitely worth checking out the content creators listed above, as they will have many more of their own. As well as that, they’ll be able to show you the more nuanced aspects where little actions can help improve your game. I hope this has been helpful, but if you think I’ve missed a great tip, make sure you get it in a comment over on facebook or twitter.

    Good luck out there!
Pixel Bandits