Initializing NVIR systemsGuides // Getting Started
Last step before heading out into the galaxy. Leave the district on purpose, pick a role, and spend on the fit — modules first, engineering when the hull is a keeper.
You can fly, dock, and earn. You have a hull you can rebuy (The insurance excess to get your ship back after it explodes — about 5% of hull and modules.). This is the last beginner step: leave the district on purpose and go see the rest of the galaxy.
Once you gain your first rank in Combat, Trade, or Exploration, the mission board offers a job that pays you to fly out and revokes the starter permit. Take it when you are ready, not the first time it appears. The ship should already be fitted — Frame Shift Drive (Frame Shift Drive: The drive that does both jobs: hyperspace jumps between systems, and supercruise inside them.), fuel scoop, shields — and the rebuy (The insurance excess to get your ship back after it explodes — about 5% of hull and modules.) should already be in the bank.
The moment you dock at a station outside the district, the permit is gone for good. That is the point. The rest of the galaxy pays better, sells more hulls, and does not keep you in a tutorial economy. You cannot wander back in later, so do not leave with a hold full of unsold exploration data and no rebuy.
You bought a ship to leave with. Pick one focus for the next stretch of millions so the next hull and the next module purchase have a reason.
NVIR does not assign a track. Combat, mining, exploration, trade, passengers — fly the one that is still fun after three hours. A commander who swaps careers every session spends the fortune on refits and never banks the rebuy (The insurance excess to get your ship back after it explodes — about 5% of hull and modules.).
Earning the sticker price is not the same as making the ship work. Cargo racks, a fuel scoop, a better Frame Shift Drive (Frame Shift Drive: The drive that does both jobs: hyperspace jumps between systems, and supercruise inside them.), shields, weapons, limpets, cabins — the fit often costs as much as the hull, sometimes more. If the purchase clears the account, you cannot outfit it and you cannot rebuy (The insurance excess to get your ship back after it explodes — about 5% of hull and modules.) it. Wait.
Stock modules cap out. Engineering is how the same ship becomes the one you keep.
What. You unlock Engineers, gather materials, then apply blueprints to a module at their workshop. Each blueprint has grades (How rare a material or blueprint is, from 1 to 5. Higher grades store fewer units and cost more.). The first roll (Engineering Roll: One application of a blueprint to a module. Each roll spends materials and improves the result a little.) is a start, not the finished part.
Why. A stock Frame Shift Drive, shield, or weapon is the factory spec. Engineering is the jump range, the tank, and the yield that make a role actually pay. Without it you can still earn. With it the same hull stops feeling like a rental.
When. After you have a ship you like and a rebuy (The insurance excess to get your ship back after it explodes — about 5% of hull and modules.) you can shrug off — not in the first week, and not on a hull you are about to sell. A common first job is Frame Shift Drive (Frame Shift Drive: The drive that does both jobs: hyperspace jumps between systems, and supercruise inside them.) range at Felicity Farseer. Until then, spend on the modules, bank the rebuy, and treat engineering as the later project it is.
Raw, manufactured, and encoded each live in their own inventory. Inside one type you can trade grades and sub-categories. Across types, nothing converts. A raw material never becomes manufactured. Scan data never becomes a component.
Materials are not a score. They pay for engineering. See Blueprints for what each roll costs, and Engineers for who unlocks which modification.
Usual starting points for each loop, not a locked career. Hulls come from the squadron outfitting list.
Buy low, sell high, and move bulk cargo. Relaxed, route-planning gameplay and the steadiest credits. You spend most of the session in supercruise and on station markets, not in a fight. Courier work still covers short hops. A dedicated hauler is the upgrade when the hold is the bottleneck.
Chart unmapped systems, map valuable worlds, and — with Odyssey — scan plants on foot. Long stretches of quiet jumping, then a fat Universal Cartographics payout. Jump range, a fuel scoop, and a Detailed Surface Scanner (Detailed Surface Scanner: Fires probes at a body to map it. Raises the cartographic payout and reveals surface signals.) matter more than weapons.
Hunt Wanted NPCs at Nav Beacons (Navigation Beacon: The traffic marker every populated system carries. Scan it for system data; loiter for easy bounties.) and Low RES (Resource Extraction Site: A spot in a planetary ring where miners work and pirates hunt them. Comes in four intensities.), then work up to Conflict Zones. Fast, loud, and the quickest way to a rebuy if you skip High Security. You need shields, weapons, and the discipline to leave a fight you cannot win. Anti-Xeno is a later specialised track, not a first career.
Laser, core, or subsurface extraction in planetary rings. Session-based: kit the ship, fill the hold, sell where demand is high. Needs more modules than courier work — lasers, limpets (A single-use drone that collects, prospects, repairs, or researches. Weighs a tonne and rides in the hold.), a refinery — so budget for the fit, not just the hull. Quiet until a pirate drops in on a full hold.
Tourists, VIPs, and the occasional refugee. Comfort, cabin class, and not getting scanned with the wrong people on board. Pays for clean flying and route discipline. Luxury work waits on luxury cabins. Sightseeing missions punish a combat detour.