First have a quick look at the in game manual. You can find this by going into a character screen, (e.g. go to the << near the bottom right hand side of the screen, then Astroforce, then any character, and finally the manual icon at the bottom left). Next you will want to capture some territory. The higher the level the better; however, the higher the level the harder to capture so don't set your sights too high to begin with. To capture better hexes you will need better ships.
Pick a good fleet combination. I find Ketzi and Camoul in a Dragoon work well. Flaherty is a good commander as well, and the Catalyst, Scythe, Griffen and Stormbringer seem to perform well. You will want to match your commanders with your appropriate ships. Once I choose a ship I remember which battle formations the ships supports; I go to commanders and sort by faction; then look for a commander (later pair of commanders) that all support the same battle formation. I also check if the commanders get friendship bonuses. For example, Ameline&Karin in a Scythe is a decent combo because they get a friendship bonus, giving them +10 Commander&Ship data rate. Remember to level up Karin’s “Talk the the Manager” skill :P. At this point avoid the Siege battle formation as it loses to every other formation (I am sure your Corp will tell you what it is good for later).
Once you have some fleets you will want to train them up. You can do this by conquering hexes and fighting pirates. This can be the best way because this gives you resources and rewards. However, it can be hard to use up all your stamina this way. Once you join a corp you can use (<< -> Corp -> ) Training Room. This will allow you to quickly turn ships and stamina into XP.
Once you have done some PVE, you may want to (or have to) deal with PVP. As a new player you will probably want to avoid a direct confrontation with enemy fleets. First don’t feed the enemy: if they capture your base they can use your hexes to jump past your factions defenses. So it may be wise to avoid moving your base too close to enemy territory. You can build outposts etc. to keep an eye on your enemies instead.
Even as a newbie you can be useful in PVP. Check the influence of the enemy players, if their influence is similar or lower than yours they are probably a newbie too and you might have a chance of winning. However, usually you will find that their influence is much greater, and you will want to push for territory without directly engaging. It takes 15 stamina for them to issue an order to their death legions and still just 15 (or 8 if you still have starter bonus) for you to issue an order to your mousy newbie fleet. So, even if you see them moving to engage your fleet and you have to beat a retreat you are wearing out their commanders as quickly as they are wearing out yours. Not bad for a newbie.
In the long term you will want to build up Nova Credits, Inventory and Commander/Ship Cards. Pretty much everything else gets wiped after the end of the season. To get the juicy end of season rewards join a big corp that can capture many citadels.
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