Welcome to the E.D. Community. Here are some tips to get you started from a former noob.

First let me say you're in for a bit of a ride. Especially if you play online. I STRONGLY recommend you play solo at least until you get some starting capital saved up for insurance and upgrades. The death penalty can be a real threat for starting players even with all of the chances you get. If you choose to play online against an installed player base of Pirates, Bounty Hunters, Miners, Traders, Explorers, then this is what you're in for. http://i.imgur.com/GTUQcOI.jpg 1. Play the tutorials.2. Repeat #1 until it's automatic3. There are 3 things you won't lose if you die. Money, stored ships, and Rep. Any money in your account or reputation you have gained with a faction will still be there even if you completely lose your ship. Any ships stored will still be there.4. The last station you visited is your save point. If you die, that is where you respawn.5. NEVER spend money that would put you below your insurance buyout. Insurance is 5% of the cost of your ship and if you die it is what you pay to get your ship back complete with all your upgrades. If you buy that shiny new ship or upgrade to a spiffy new frame shift drive and you don't have any money left over for insurance, you WILL lose it if you die and can't pay the insurance. This is only a problem in the very beginning when you're broke, or when you get money, and then blow it all on an ASP/Anaconda/Python later in the game.6. If you want to make money and you have none Mining, upgrade ship to Adder, mining, upgrade ship to Cobra, mining, upgrade Cobra to 20ly jump range, Rare Trading, Profit.7. If you enter a warzone to make $$ set your faction flag on the right hand menu, far right tab, at the top, otherwise you get bupkis.8. You will make more money killing "Wanted" pirates than in a warzone. Pirates both NPC and player can be found at Nav Guides, Resource Extraction Zones, Asteroid Belts, anywhere there is mining or trading going on.9. The NPC's are dumb. Really dumb. Even the "Elite" skilled NPCs are bad. Just because you can kill an NPC in a better ship, doesn't mean you won't lose to a player (title will always start with CMDR xxxxxx) flying a beat up rust bucket who knows a lot more about space flight than you do.10. Buy a fuel scoop if you plan on leaving a system. If you run out of fuel see #4 above. All ships have a self destruct button, far right hand menu, far right hand tab.11. You need to quest a lot in the beginning. It pays poorly but you're poor so it's allright. It gives you faction, which leads to better quests and more money. Faction is what later on lets you buy certain ships, and visit certain systems.12. Some quests require you to have a cargo hold. Quests are seperated into obtainable and unobtainable. Unobtainable at the bottom will tell you why it's not being offered. IE Needs 2 hold slots, faction doesn't trust you enough, etc.13. Quests are given at stations, depots, etc under starport services, Bulletin Board.14. Always request permission to dock under the communication menu on left hand panel, or you will be trespassing in which case see #4 above.15. That one quest that pays 140,000 credits to kill xxxx.....You won't be able to do it. Don't even think about it. Even if you're in a Vulture, no way jose. You need a TEAM of vultures backing you up, these missions are against groups of Anacondas........Forget about it.Your priorities regardless of what role you want to fill, (Explorer, Trader, Bounty Hunter, Pirate)MoneyShipFactionYour Goals.You need money first and formost to do any of the others.Ships:Each ship has different module sizes. Generally speaking a size 5 module is much better than a size 4 module. IE size 2 refinery holds max 2 bins and is expensive, Size 3 refinery can do 3 bins and is cheaper but your ship has to have a free size 3 slot..... Larger slot size fuel scoops scoop more, larger slot size shields shield more, you get the idea.The classes of modules, A-E are the quality. Higher class generally means it does it better, IE scoops more fuel, doesn't get as hot, weighs less, etc. Whether you equip an expensive A class module or a cheap E class completely depends on what you're trying to do with the ship.When you go to outfitting and choose a module to upgrade, the modules shown will ONLY BE THE ONES THAT WOULD FIT THAT SLOT TYPE. Cant tell you how frustrating it was trying to find a 2 slot refinery and never finding it, because I was always looking at 1 slot modules only.....IE choose to upgrade a 2 slot module you will see different parts listed than if you choose to upgrade a 4 slot module.....The power distributor IS IMPORTANT. It controls how fast your weapons recharge, how often you can boost your speed, how fast your shields recharge. NOT your power plant. As long as your power plant meets the deployed kw/h demands, it's no longer important. The power panel gives you speed, lets you fire your weapons longer before needing to recharge etc.Explorer: Best ship is an ASP. You won't be able to afford it without being a miner and a rare trader first. The first ship you buy that can be used for exploration will be a hauler (not recommended) or an Adder. You will need a fuel scoop, the higher the class, and bigger the slot it uses, the better. You should keep your shields, you're a noob and will need them. The standard discovery scanner is fine, the detailed surface scanner is necessary for you to get discovery credit, IE you're the first to scan a system. You will never make much money doing it but boy do you get to see a lot of cool stuff. The endgame for explorationAn ASP - 18,000,000 credits properly equipped5slot fuel scoopAdvanced discovery ScannerDetailed Surface ScannerEquip no weapons, strip that ship to the boneBuy the smallest, MOST heat efficient power plant you can afford that will meet your ships power requirements. Heat is your enemy when scooping stars. Your ship is damaged above 100% heat.FSD range increases as you cut weight. You don't generally need good (ie equip lightest weight even if it sucks) thrusters, sensors, power distribution panel, shields, etc.