Elite: Dangerous - Getting Started Tutorial - The New Player Survival Guide 

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your Elite: Dangerous videos, and how excited I am about playing it. I've been playing computer games since 1980 - in fact, I changed my career after graduating from college because of them. I've never heard of Elite: Dangerous (admittedly, I've slowed down in my gaming in the last decade). I only stumbled across this game because I watched a few videos about No Man's Sky, which did not appeal to me, not only because of the controversies, but because of the procedurally generated planets and universe. I started playing Space Engine recently, and although more to my tastes, it still lacked a "reason" to explore. Then I found Elite: Dangerous, and after having watched a couple of your videos, I'm hooked! Thanks again.

Frontier should hire you or something. A lot of people will find lots of useful content here.

My only problem is when you point out things on the hud or screen. It's not clear what you're talking about, like "the white dot on your lower right" etc.. It would be nice when editing the video to make arrows or circle/highlight what you're talking about to make things clearer when pointing out points of interest.

you docked within 10 seconds, it took me 10 minutes, twice...

I feel like I'm being tutorialised by Jason Statham.

I played the original 8 bit Elite on my C64 back in the mid 80s when I should have been studying hard at high school. It was a totally immersive experience which I was hooked on for a long long time. I made it to Elite after a very long time. I had millions of credits in the bank a maxxed out Cobra with military engines and shields and beam weapons everywhere. Pirates ran away from me. Even in anarchy systems and in squads of 6 ships or more. They didn't last long and I cleaned up on bounties. I was eager to play ED when I first heard of it it looked stunning and promised a 21st Century trip into my teenage memories and imagination, but found the actual game difficult to get started in. Your videos will help immensely. Right On Commander...

Obsidian, thank you very much for this! I already know (more or less) how to play E:D but I appreciate time and effort you put into this. Plus, it's nice to see what the process is like for you...

Wow, your voice is awesome, you could tell me anything and I would listen to every word.

600 hours in and this video is teaching me things I didn't even know about! Good vid ObsidianAnt!

This is fantastic! I've not seen another "Getting Started" video for Elite that goes into such detail! it's like a video version of the game manual! Quite useful! I'm a stellar cartographer in Elite (at least in the solo game so far).

i fucking hate the ship design in this game, they just look like giant doritos flying through space.

Have you done all the footage in the beginning by yourself? it looks stunning >_>

To avoid overshooting, map a button for 75% throttle. Press it when you get to about 6 or 7 seconds away from your target. I use 7 to be safe but 6 works as long as your quick. Trust your ship to keep the throttle at the right setting. Might look like you're going too fast but it will slow down in time.

This guide saved the game for me. I spend 3 hours trying to learn ED on my own and just ended up frustrated and confused. It's moronic that the game doesn't show me the ropes on it's own or provide better guidance to noobs.

Just got this game for PS4. Presumably, this tutorial is equally valid for consoles & pc?

Wow - this is an awesome guide! I've recently purchased the game, and despite it being around a year old, I see that they're adding new content all the time, so it should definitely be a worthwhile play - thank you :3

I'm a total noob to space sims, but picked up ED after getting my Rift because it sounded really cool in vid reviews. Your tutorials are some of the most helpful I've found. Well, after a rudimentary basics vid or two... I recommend people check out a HUD tutorial first. Great work!

I know this video is two years old but I just wanted to say thanks. I just got this on the Ps4 and for the past two days I've given myself a fat lip and bloodied nose beating my head against this game. . . It's glorious! I almost suffocated myself when I activated my weapons in a dogfight, puny power supply, haha. But as much as I love space sims, I don't hold a candle to my Dad. So I've been essentially playtesting, grinding and digging throughout online tips and tutorials to try to ease his inevitable frustrations. Your videos and others like it have been a massive help. Good Luck on the path, and once again Thank You for your efforts.

hell dude! Thanks sooo much for these vids! I really want to love elite but have been completely overwhelmed by its lack of "do this, do that" or any frickin indication of how you do anything! since finding these vids I have managed to upgrade and bounty hunt and all the rest. fanks muchly!

Thank you very much for this detailed walkthrough! As a new player, its hard to get my bearings - this really helped. :-)

Man this game looks so immersive. Problem is I'm not very patient when it comes to steep learning curves in games.

Fucking nailed er buddy. I picked this game up thinking it was like EVE. All the reviews I read say it's nothing like EVE! Turn out it's really super similar to EVE. Anyway, I got all the basics down, I was having trouble figuring out where to start. I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere (self destruct). I bought a mining laser and refinery (with 1 bin, yea, now I know). And I re-bought (loaner) the wrong ship (self destruct again).NOW, I know exactly what Im doing when In get home from work. Self destructing, and doing some bounty hunting. I know how to use my Discovery-thinger and scan ships for warrants. I also purchased a fuel scoop which is totally helpful. Thanks for the video man, it's a bit long (like you mentioned) but it's very natural and easy to watch. Well done.I don't sub much, but I gave you one, just so you might be around to make a solid video tutorial-ing the next big chunk of this game, or another. P.s. why does RU-vid throw my formatting out the window and make this wall of text? This was written nicely I promise.

I strongly recommend a steering wheel for the SRV, it's amazingly immersive as well as great fun. Really makes it feel like two games in one. For docking I find an easy way is to kill the speed and use forward and reverse thrust for positioning.

Hello Obsidian, Im looking at starting ED and Im wondering if you would say this tutorial is still pertinent to the game 7yr later? Im guessing yes, for the most part, from what Ive seen on other videos with a few differences Ive noticed, but this video and its series is exactly what Im looking for, so I thought Id ask before I jump in! Thanks for this and all the rest of the videos which Im only starting to break the surface of!

if players hog The Landing Bay for a small station they have approximately 10 minutes to vacate the premises. Otherwise it is perfectly legal to gank them. It is in the bylaws for elite dangerous. I believe it's under Section ou812.

I wasn't aware that Liam Neeson was into elite dangerous...

Do these tutorials still apply to the most recent version of the game? And is everything explained here available on console in some form or another? 😊

Thank you so much. Finally a tutorial video what actually starts with a simple starter ship and shows a beginner how to do, and how to do it.

fuk me ded man,I'm just trying to see if i want to get into this game and i"m like, this is more complex then my average Masters degree classes

Are these 2015 tutorials still valid ? I'm a new player and these videos looks like they used to be the most popular ones.

What a fantastic video. I love the quality and I love your voice! You explain everything so its not mind numbingly boring but it still makes sense! Thanks and I cannot wait to pick up this game!

A tutorial on RU-vid, without ego babble. It doesn't get better than this.

the blue interface is so relaxing, Love to have that too compared to the orange.

Thank you for your extremely thorough and well-spoken tutorial. I was looking for a good one to send to a friend who just picked up the game and most of the others are very poor quality and don't properly and thoroughly cover the breadth of the systems. Your dedication and attention to detail is hugely appreciated.

Holy cow, that's a complex game. I just bought it having no idea I'd be in for so much. It looks very interesting, but I feel like I'll need to commit more than I have time to right now. Your tutorial is amazing dude, clarified a lot of the game ins and outs. Many thanks for the help

He is explaining like Bob Ross

Very well explained video, I'm an older player and really finding this game hard to get into, hopefully after watching this I can give it all a go........................

You remind me of the narrator from "Willow the Wisp" for some reason :) Thanks for the upload.

This video is still helping new players, of which I am probably close to the newest. Thanks for this great tutorial. I learned a ton!

I just watched 10 seconds, and instantly subscribed. Your voice man....it's like watching a BBC documentary.

Just got the game today for xbox one. My buddy recommend i watch these video. Which i defiantly will but does anyone have helpful tips they would like to toss up for a space newb like my self? I have no man sky but i know this dosnt compare as this is more of a sim? Not sure if ill have the dedication as i do like to play other games as well

Does progress made in Solo transfer over to Online?

What's the next video you would recommend after watching this?

I literally bought the game as I write this..23.99 with horizons..I thought it was a good deal..

Wow you have come a long way since this. Awesome to see the old content though.

"These are not... brilliant training missions..." Understatement of the year

Amazing. With all the videos you're putting out right now, I'm not sure where you find the time to actually play the game. :)

This was really helpful, thanks for making this :)

i started off in a high intensity, was going great, 1M+ credits. Then I got too greedy and died. Then I went back and died again.... and again. I FTL there and FML out. 10/10, will FML again.

Awesome content pal. Please... for the love of god... do a side project Audiobook recording of Neuromancer.

Brilliant starter. I'd really like to see a tutorial that just used mouse and keyboard.

Thank you for making all of these videos for Elite: Dangerous. I just downloaded the game today and can't wait to get started, but it seems like there's a lot to learn so, I really appreciate your videos. :)

Is it theoretically possible to find the Sol system, and by extension, Earth?

This game looks so cool I remember seeing it on my XONE HOME PAGE and watching the trailer and then downloading a small DEMO and the DEMO ruined it for me (maybe I was fucking up and not playing right or the DEMO just sucked)in short the DEMO killed my excitement I had after watching the trailer. NOW AFTER WATCHING THAT THARGOID FIRST CONTACT ALIEN DISCOVERY VIDEO I WAS AGAIN SK TAKEN BACK AT HOW COOL IT LOOKED.I WAS IMAGINING BEING THE PERSON WHO MADE FIRST CONTACT W/THE THARGOIDS AND THE WAY THE ALIENS PULLED HIM OUT OF HYPERSPACE WITH ALL SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN WHILE THEY SCANNED HIM MUST HAVE BEEN SUCH A COOL FEELING. SO I HAVE BEEN WATCHING MORE VIDEOS FOR BEGINNERS CAUSE IT JUST LOOKS SO FUN.

so this game, along with odyssey, is what Star Citizen should have been without the 12 years of development?

So ObsidianAnt...great narrative and video that was excellent. So do you reckon I should most def buy this title...after suffering _No Mans Sky_? ED...the real deal?

Maybe I, stupid but I just don't understand this game 9 hours in and still don't have a clue I can tell this video is useful but I just don't understand it lol Which is a real shame because i know I would love this game and in vr it literally blows my mind

Very helpful! I'm considering mucking about with ED for a bit while we wait these last few weeks for 3.0 to drop. Very much looking forward to your Star Citizen videos once it does =) And make sure you hit your local Bar Citizens.

I found out the hard way bounty hunting. I've scoreed a few kills, some of them quite high, at least for a beginner. I've amassed around 250k, which at that time was about half of what I had as a whole. Being extremely content with the way it has worked I felt an itch to go at it again. This time it went badly. I got my ass kicked and boom, back to the screen of shame. I said to my self, "oh well, all in all that was a good hunt." . By now Im sure you know what happened when I re-buyed my ship and looked at my bounty. I traded my ship in and happily doing trader/passenger/explorer missions. Space combat's just not for my nerves.

Hi. Just wanted to say that I followed your advice and input about the game and decided to pick it up for my entertainment system of preference. College started so I've only been able to put in around 10 hours in to it and wow it's what I've been looking for for quite some time now. Only thing i've been able to play regarding a similar setting is StarPoint Gemini 2 (has it's draw backs but still found it fun). Nonetheless, Elite has been great. Flying wasn't as hard as people made it out to be and exploring is great. The music, the sense of scale and mechanics are fun for me. So, seeing how much more will come to it is really nice. Even got my brother into it and really enjoys exploring around with me. Anyway great content. Subscribed a while ago initially for your Everspace gameplay. I'll be watching a lot more Elite now though. Have a nice day.

Just got it with the horizons add on. I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I've had to restart a few times. Ended up stranded and out of fuel. Blew up because 'heat'. Broke my engine from accidentally doing an emergency stop from supercruise and not enough fuel to make the jump back. There is so much to wrap your head around and that's just the ship. The trading and other jobs you can do, the factions, the navigation/ galaxy map. I've just scratch the surface of the fan base/community too and recently learned about the Fuel Rats. What a game.

How taxing is SweetFX? I was surprised when the game defaulted my graphics to 1440p and ultra lol. wondering If the SweetFX would be to much. Bought the game yesterday, but I am waiting for my HOTAS to come later in the week! Got a whole setup I am making to mount it to my chair and everything lol!

What's the point in joining a group? what does it do/difference does it make?

Figuring out how to bind the landing thrusters has been great. By default I'm keeping it to my joystick hat, but then I realised I could bind forward and rear thrust to my triggers. Now I can never accidentally deploy hardpoints while docking! (Keep in mind if you smuggle goods, you may want to have better control on this when you get scanned.)

Dude its fucking awsome. Have watched 20 videos, just spent time, didnt learn anything from them, but your video is the best. The best video for new Elite player. THX man. Please can you make tutorial about politics in game, i mean about factions, bla bla bla.

Really helpful stuff great work! I have a super basic question, I'm playing on the PS4. Sometimes I choose a new destination and it won't plot a path to it? I don't understand why, surely there should be a way to get anywhere using multiple jumps?

Hey ObsidianAnt - thanks for this introduction video. I started with bounty hunting as you suggested but unfortunately, everytime I shoot down some wanted guy, the federal agents and/or security start attacking me, resulting in destruction of my sidewinder. What am I doing wrong?!

A sidewinder fits sideways thru the slot LOL I mean vertical.. Probably you could fly it thru bottom first complete wingspan in the narrow just using only top thrusters... It's really hard to actually hit the sides of the slots in a sidey... I usually line up with the slot when still in supercruise. Most slots face the planet but you can see it when you target the station, which is probably already the case because you traveled there.. just line up so you're facing the slot and then drop.. usually I'm straight on the slot.. very useful if you're trying to get contraband into a station.

Way behind here. Just purchased on the xbox. As you know, this game is complicated enough, so I wanted to say thanks for the starter tips. Last game I played like this was "Master of Orion"...... lol

Thank you for your most detailed tutorial ever, the mod graphics in your description however does not work, if its possible kindly explain how you made the field of view bigger like you did. THANKS +sub

Any tips for getting through airlocks, when you've got limited hand movement? I'm interested in doing planet exploration, but I need money first. I took my first mission but just hope I can finish it. Thanx

Ross kemp of elite dangerous

You mentioned you were using a joystick, what kind of button layout did you have for it, or is there one already there to use? I've got one on order(I think the same one you have, if I remember correctly) and I don't really know how I would choose the button layout, except for the obvious ones, such as the axis movement and the throttle. :P

This is a very good start-up tutorial! Thank you!

@ 33:15 i swear to sweet baby james, i've never encountered a wanted ship. All I find are lawlless ship. I can´t bounty hunt :( *with the exeption of mission related ships* All i encounter are lawless ships. Hope you can help me out, Daniel

"I'm not that brilliant at combat, but generally you want to keep behind your target." - ObsidianAnt ;)

I've just turned this game on for the first time and was sad to find out that the awesome Elite theme tune from my NES version isn't used in this version of the game. I just assumes it was the Elite theme tune. In fact, I don't remember any tune at all. Oh , well, never mind. Very helpful tutorial by the way and after 5 years too!

very interesting accent, does anybody know from which region in the UK is his accent from? just curious

It is a LOT more difficult program than I imagined... So much to set ones mind on.. And learn.. Thanks to anyone who put out turtorials to make the learning curve a little easier, this look fun, but difficult to learn

Hey, Obsidian! What FOV setting are you using? I'm sure you had to edit something to get it that wide :)

Nice video thanks I'm beginner i did op open the game its like no man sky that one is easy to play but i did start with this game 2 weeks ago with friend we did not understand how or what mast do than i did stop i look this video ty for example in beginners guide now i understand what I mast do i gonna begin on pc but can i also use my dualsense ps5 controller and do you now if this game has crossplay multiplatform like i play on pc and my friends on Xbox ps5?

This is a very complicated game. I've been playing for three hours just on the second training mission! I've given up now having spent over two hours trying to find a door to dock in the station! where's the damn instructions?!

Very very useful for a beginner like me who has lost a few ships. Thank you very much.

this games tutorials, ingame and youtube, are all a big bad joke. i really cant comprehend how people can not teach complicated things very slowly and remember they are literally talking to people that have NO idea what they are doing. only takes a little empathy. not much

just bought this game, and I am in awe over how cool, but daunting it is. First time I stole some tech and sold it on the black market I was hooked xD So much to learn though. Thanks for this!

I am looking for other player, as yet I have not seen any, I did a google search and it told me to go to lhs 3447, eravate, Leesti, Zaonce and Diaguandri with no luck, can you please help me and give me some info on where to look, thanks.

Hey dude, awesome videos! I just recently started and I've learned a lot from you. However, the links for your other videos in the video description seem broken to me. You might want to take a look at them.

damn you ObsidianAnt....your videos made me buy this game :D ....downloading now while watching your tutorial ....I think is going to be a very long night :P

Not one to give up but this game has me close. No guidance, no help. Nothing.

I tried bounty hunting, but I keep on being destroyed by federal security. I make absolutely sure that the target is wanted before I shoot and I make absolutely sure that I don't shoot at security forces. What else could I be doing wrong?

Excellent tutorial mate, lots of useful info. Very well presented too, no umming and ahhing! You’ve helped a lot, will watch your other videos for advice.

What this game lacks bad is boots on the ground... Your confined to a spaceship the whole time. In No mans sky you can land on every planet and fly wherever u want. Its not so techie but its good

I found boom status missions are also very good. if you are delivering to a system with a long journey in system like Alpha Centauri, you can collect a few package deliveries and do a single run.

Hello! Just purchased the game and watching the video. Haven't watched the full video yet, but let me tell you you have an amazing dungeon keeper voice :)

I have played this game for a week now and still got nothing, got blowing up, crashed, fined and still in a sidewinder, the biggest problem in this game is the time limit to land at a landing pad, Frontier Developments should drop this on there next update or patch.

Followed your steps. Found a target at the beacon....and couldnt fire my weapon. Assigned it to a fire group, deployed hard point, selected target...and nothing. Pretty frustrating

one time when I docked at a station, the landing pad was facing the wrong way and a large pipe was in the way, I had to waste time turning the right way to land and I was out of time when I started to land, what give with this game, Frontier Developments should fix there's problems.

As soon as I found out aliens were in the game I went straight to the steam market and bought it. I'm confused and lost in the game, literally, but I love it so much and I've only been playing 2 days

What is the color changes you did too your HUD? I would love to have that I have tried to change it to that type of bright blue but no luck. Could you please post the changes thanks!!

I just got this for xbox one, (because of your videos) and I'm having a hard time finding things for missions. first mission is to find non lethal weapons and I have gone to multiple systems and haven't found a single station with them. so how do you find out where to buy or sell items?