New Commander Roadmap
The New Commander Roadmap is a guided progression for a Commander who has just started Elite Dangerous. It is not a mandatory path and it is not a checklist that must be completed before the rest of the game becomes available. Elite Dangerous is open-ended: the purpose of this roadmap is to help a new Commander become self-sufficient, understand the major systems, and choose a direction with confidence.
Use this page in two ways:
- as a reference for the broad early-game skills a Commander should learn; and
- as a practical walkthrough for what to do next when the galaxy feels too open.
- Designed for
- Brand-new Commanders
- Starting point
- Immediately after training or the first live session
- Required credits
- None
- Required ship
- Starter ship or any early ship
- Recommended
- Complete the flight tutorials and keep enough credits for rebuy
- End state
- An independently capable Commander who can choose their own direction
- Progression length
- Open-ended; move on when you understand the skill, not when a timer says so
- Related pages
- Start Here, Field Procedures, Game Reference, Ships and Equipment, Engineering
Important
This roadmap is guidance, not a required progression route. If you find an activity you enjoy, it is fine to follow that thread early and return to the roadmap later.
Before you start
- Required
- A ship with a working Frame Shift Drive — every interstellar activity depends on travelling between systems.
- Required
- Enough credits for rebuy before taking risks — rebuy is the insurance cost to recover your ship after destruction.
- Strongly recommended
- Complete the basic flight tutorials — they let you practise movement, docking, and combat without risking your live ship.
- Strongly recommended
- Learn where refuel, repair, restock, outfitting, missions, and contacts live in station services.
- Optional
- Use docking assistance while learning — it is acceptable to reduce workload while you learn navigation and game systems.
Phase 1 — Learn to fly
The first phase is about control, navigation, and confidence. You do not need a better ship yet. You need to understand how to leave a station, travel somewhere, and return safely.
Open the training section from the main menu and complete the basic flight tutorial. Pay attention to throttle control, landing gear, ship orientation, and the difference between normal space and supercruise. The goal is not mastery; the goal is to make the cockpit feel less unfamiliar before credits and cargo are at risk.
Launch from a station, clear the mailslot or pad area, then request docking and land again. During this exercise, learn where the compass dot appears, how speed affects control, and how your ship behaves near large station geometry.
Tip
If docking feels stressful, use a docking computer at first. The important early skill is understanding what docking is doing, not proving you can manually land on day one.
Make your first deliberate interstellar trip.
- Open the Galaxy Map.
- Select a nearby inhabited system.
- Plot a route.
- Return to the cockpit.
- Align with the target shown on your HUD.
- Throttle up and charge the Frame Shift Drive.
- Watch your fuel gauge before and after the jump.
- On arrival, move away from the star before checking panels or maps.
Field note
Fuel use is part of navigation. Some stars can be fuel-scooped and some cannot. Main-sequence stars of spectral classes O, B, A, F, G, K, and M are the common scoopable classes; see Fuel Scooping for the full mechanic.
Fly back to a station and deliberately use station services. Refuel, repair if needed, inspect the mission board, open outfitting, and check contacts. You are learning where recovery and preparation tools live before you urgently need them.
Phase 2 — Become self-sufficient
A self-sufficient Commander can travel, recover from common mistakes, and prepare a ship for a basic job.
Before accepting missions or plotting longer routes, check whether your ship can reach the destination and return. Learn the difference between a single jump, a plotted route, and your total fuel tank endurance.
Warning
Running out of fuel can strand your ship. If you are low on fuel, stop taking new risks, look for a station, or learn the Fuel Scooping process before continuing deeper into unknown systems.
Pick a nearby station and practise a complete loop: launch, supercruise, approach, request docking, land, refuel, repair, and restock. This loop is the foundation for missions, trading, mining sales, combat recovery, and exploration returns.
Open outfitting and inspect your core internal, optional internal, hardpoint, and utility slots. Do not buy random modules yet. Learn the ideas of module size, module rating, power draw, mass, jump range, shields, and optional internals.
Important
A ship is a tool. Early on, understanding why a module is fitted matters more than buying the most expensive part available.
Choose a simple mission with a destination you can reach and a consequence you understand. Read the destination, cargo requirements, legality, time limit, and reward before accepting. Complete one mission slowly rather than stacking many missions you do not yet understand.
Sooner or later, another ship may attempt to pull you from supercruise. Learn what the interdiction tunnel looks like, how to submit or evade, and how to escape after dropping into normal space. Link deeper reading to Interdiction once that article is available or expanded.
Phase 3 — Try the galaxy
This phase introduces careers. The goal is not to choose the best one immediately; the goal is to try several loops and discover what feels rewarding.
Move a small amount of legal cargo between stations. Learn commodity markets, cargo space, supply, demand, profit, and why losing cargo can matter. Continue to Trading for the full activity.
Plot a short route away from your starting area, scan systems as you travel, and sell exploration data after returning safely. Notice how jump range, fuel, and route planning affect comfort. Continue to Exploration and Fuel Scooping.
Land on a suitable planet, use the Artemis suit and genetic sampler, and turn in biological data. Focus on learning approach, landing, surface movement, and sample spacing rather than maximizing profit. Continue to Exobiology.
Outfit only the basic equipment needed for the type of mining you are attempting. Learn the difference between finding a resource, extracting it, collecting fragments, refining cargo, and selling the commodity. Continue to Mining and Laser Mining.
Start with low-risk combat training or low-threat targets. Learn pips, shields, hull, hardpoint deployment, target selection, and when to leave. Do not take high-threat combat missions just because the reward looks attractive.
Warning
Combat can destroy an early ship quickly. Keep rebuy credits available and leave before shields, hull, or situational awareness are gone.
Visit a concourse, inspect terminals, take a low-risk legal mission, and learn shuttle or ship travel to settlements. Pay attention to legal status and trespass warnings. Continue to Odyssey when ready.
Phase 4 — Build a purpose-built ship
After trying a few loops, build a ship for one job instead of forcing one ship to do everything.
Pick one immediate role: short-range trading, basic exploration, beginner mining, courier missions, or low-risk combat. Define the job before buying modules. A purpose-built ship is easier to understand because every slot has a reason.
For the chosen role, identify what limits the ship.
- Trading cares about cargo capacity, jump range, and survivability.
- Exploration cares about jump range, fuel, scanners, heat, and recovery tools.
- Mining cares about hardpoints, collector/prospector limpets, refinery, cargo, and distributor capacity.
- Combat cares about weapons, distributor, shields or armour, power, and agility.
Make a few changes, then fly the ship. Check power usage, jump range, heat, handling, and whether you forgot a required module. Avoid spending all credits on a build you have not tested.
Phase 5 — Begin engineering
Engineering improves ships, but it can become a grind if approached too early as a completion checklist. Treat your first engineering as a targeted upgrade to solve a problem you understand.
Engineering modifies modules through blueprints and grades. Experimental effects add one additional special property. The important early idea is simple: choose an upgrade because it helps your ship's job.
Engineering uses materials rather than normal commodities. Materials have categories, grades, and storage separate from cargo racks. Learn where your material inventory is and how Material Trading helps convert excess materials into needed ones.
Pick one practical goal, such as improving Frame Shift Drive range for travel or making a commonly used module more comfortable. Follow the relevant Engineer invitation and unlock requirements rather than trying to unlock every Engineer immediately.
When an Engineer allows it, pin a useful blueprint so future upgrades can be applied remotely. Learn the difference between workshop engineering, remote engineering, grades, and experimental effects.
Phase 6 — Choose your direction
At this point the roadmap stops being linear. You should know how to travel, dock, recover, outfit a ship, try activities, and follow linked references. Choose a direction and let EDFM guide you deeper.
Common problems
- My route says unavailable.
- Your ship may not have enough jump range, the route filter may be unsuitable, or the destination may require a permit. Try a nearer system, check route settings, reduce ship mass, or improve jump range.
- I keep running out of fuel.
- Plot shorter routes, refuel at stations, and learn Fuel Scooping. Watch both the current tank and the route line before every long trip.
- The station will not let me dock.
- Make sure you are close enough, targeting the station, using the contacts panel correctly, and not blocked by pad size, hostility, or legal status.
- I accepted a mission I cannot finish.
- Read the mission details again. Check destination, cargo, legality, time limit, and required equipment. If the mission is not practical, abandon it and learn what requirement was missed.
- I do not know which career is best.
- There is no single best career. Try several short loops, then build a ship around the activity you actually enjoy.
When are you no longer a new Commander?
There is no official line where a Commander stops being new. A practical sign is independence. You are becoming self-sufficient when you can:
- decide what you want to do;
- determine what ship and equipment are appropriate;
- travel there safely;
- understand your fuel situation;
- recover from common mistakes;
- find the information you need; and
- understand enough of the game's systems to make your own decisions.