Everyone has their own way of succeeding through EVN, there are many paths to choose from, but we all begin the exact same way. Starting off in a modest little Shuttle, you must work your way to the top of the galactic food chain. But what is the fastest and most efficient way to do this. Here i will go through the most popular and well known strategies that have been found in order to achieve.
First actions[]
As soon as you begin, it is always suggested you land and stock up on necessary equips. The first and foremost is the IFF Decoder. This is extremely helpful as it will put some colour into your radar, showing you who is hostile and who is not, and which planets you are able to land on. While your at it, you might as well sell your Light Blaster, because if you do come into contact with an enemy, you won't survive, with or without it. Many people will also choose to purchase an Auto-Recharger, It is not essential, but will help you quite a lot. (It is also recommended you buy a Map whenever you land on a planet)
First Hyperjump[]
Before you start jumping to another system, you must first decide how you want to make money. You can take delivery missions from the Mission BBS, with a 15,000 cr profit per delivery, although this is not recommended. You can also trade resources between planets. But this is also not recommended at such an early stage. The most recommended way to begin your new pilot is to head to one of these systems:
The reason for this, is because these three systems are rather close to Sol (The capital of the Federation space) and have a high chance for disabled ships to appear. From either of these systems, simply dock your ship and continue to leave and land on a planet over and over again until you spot a grey dot on your radar. This will indicate a disabled ship, you can then target it and board it. You will find that when you board it you will either fall into a pirate trap, or the ship's crew will ask you to deliver them to a nearby system. Succeeding to deliver the crew to their desired planet will reward you with 75,000 cr.
You can continue to cart passengers around the galaxy, which will give you enough money to buy a decent ship quite quickly, or you can use one of my favourite tricks. Once you have a passenger from a disabled ship, EVN has made it that you cannot get another mission from a disabled ship. So basically you can't do several of the same mission. So when you have a passenger and you board another ship it will act as though your boarding an actual ship that you disabled yourself so you can take their credits. This can be used to your advantage, for example, heading to the Gefjon system you will notice that disabled 'Leviathans' will appear. And if you know anything about Leviathans, they often have quite a lot of credits when you board them, usually between 50,000 - 500,000 cr.
How to keep the credits coming - Phase 2 (Method 1)[]
Rautherion
Boarded Pirate Carrier
Once you have around 500,000 cr your ready to start making more money. Either buy yourself a Valkyrie or a Starbridge on Sol (This is just one method of making more money). Then head to my personal favourite system Rautherion, there you can buy Hellhound Missiles and Missile launchers. Buy at least three Hellhound Missile Launchers and stock up with 50 hellhound missiles (You can hold the option/alt key as you click the 'Buy' button, this will give you the option to choose how many to purchase, rather than relentlessly clicking 'Buy'). In the Rautherion system Manticores and Pirate Carriers will appear, you can attack these without getting penalised. You can now continue to go in and out of docking your ship to wait for either a Manticore or Pirate Carrier to appear. When they do appear, try to keep some distance, and don't stay still. fire Hellhound missiles at them until they are disabled, then board their ship. Manticores will usually take about 25-30 hellhound missiles to be disabled, Pirate carriers 30-35 missiles. Be careful, but try not to be too slow as your chances of survival greatly diminish the more time they have to target you. Once you have around 1.00M cr, you may find it easier to disable ships with a Ionic Particle Cannon and Thunderhead lances. But this would require a few extra upgrades as well as some practice using your afterburner and autopilot ('Z' and 'A' keys).
How to keep the credits coming - Phase 2 (Method 2)[]
Codehaven to Lesten
Some people like to go for a less combat focused method of making money (This is a slower method but is much more predictable and safe). Instead of buying a ship for fighting, you can buy a ship for trading. Such as a Terrapin. (Some people advise converting both methods, boarding manticores and pirate carriers, then buying something like a pegasus for trading). There are many trade routes that people like to use, my personal favourite is bio-weapons, between Codehaven and Lesten. Buying in Codehaven, and selling in Lesten. (Using 6 leviathan escorts i found myself making a 60.00M cr profit each trip)
Gem Trade Route
Another favoured trade route is Gems between Formahault and Lotus. This has less profit to bio-weapons but has a slightly shorter trade route. You buy Gems on planet Gem in Formahault and sell them in Serenity in Lotus. but in any case, it is recommended buy some weapons for your ship and kill two or three pirates to put your rating up high enough to do the Sigma Shipyard mission in order to purchase Leviathans and Pegasus ships.
The Setup Ship[]
This is my personal preference of a ship. This is a very common goal for most EVN players to get this type of build on a ship and is not so easy to achieve, i will also explain how to get a ship like this. Firstly you will need to disable and capture a Class E starbridge in the Tuatha system. This is the ship in which to install all the following upgrades:
These 4 upgrades are recommended by almost every pilot. And you can get them quite easily. Vectored Thrusts and Port & Polish can be bought on Rauther in Rautherion. And an Afterburner and Horizontal booster can be bought on Honor in Bloodstone, two jumps from Nesre Primus.
you will also want to get the following Sigma upgrades from Earth:
The most common place to buy a Thunderhead lance is in Rebel II in the Koria system or in Gli-Tech-Nia in Rimshot. Although Rebel II and Rimshot are forbidden to land on by default, so you may require to bribe them, or kill at least one pirate in the system.
You can buy a Ionic particle cannon in Aldebaran which is one Hyperjump to left from Nesre Primus.
And this is the basic setup ship. You may also want to invest in learning how to use Autopilot and Afterburner ('A' and 'Z' keys) as well as 'R' for locking onto your nearest hostile.
