STARSECTOR: The Beginner's Survival Guide - How to Play One of the Best Space Games of All Time

STARSECTOR is a phenomenal passion project indie game - a space sandbox RPG where you command a fleet as you bounty hunt, trade, explore, salvage and even build your own empire. However the game is quite challenging due to it's depth and unique combat and systems - this guide is designed to be a companion to the tutorial section of the game, expanding on a lot of the unmentioned details and nuances to the various system that the tutorial just barely begins to cover. It's one of my all time favorite games, so don't be discouraged by it being quite challenging at first, definitely give it a solid go and hopefully this guide helps you!

(Not currently on Steam)

There's so much more to cover potentially, though this should hopefully be a solid launching point for you to get into the game!

Timestamps:
0:00 - Welcome to the Starsector Beginner's Survival Guide
0:41 - Play the Combat Tutorials on the Main menu
0:54 - Creating a Character & Game Setup
1:06 - Choosing Your Starting Ships & background
1:23 - Bounty Hunter, the Wolf Frigate
1:39 - Scavenger, Warfarer Combat Freighter
1:52 - The Faster Start Options
2:11 - Second Ship for Bounty/Scav Options
2:52 - Don't Be Afraid to Play on Easy, It's Not that "Easy"
3:07 - Scavenging & Salvaging Basics
4:55 - Taking Loot & Managing Cargo
5:39 - Don't Forget to Quicksave
5:56 - Identifying Approaching Enemies
7:01 - Your First Battle, What to Focus On
8:23 - Weapon Groups and Autofire
9:19 - Strafing Controls
10:15 - Combat Basics, Warming Up
11:34 - Level Up! What Perks to Take
12:17 - Elite Skills
12:44 - What are Story Points?
13:37 - Setting up Weapon Groups Properly
15:15 - Simulations, Practice Combat Risk Free!
16:11 - Map Menus & Navigating
18:10 - Controlling with Sustained Burn
19:05 - Transponder Basics
19:28 - What Can you Do at a Station
20:01 - Trading, Tax & the Black Market
21:36 - Station Fleet Screen & Buying New Ships
22:49 - Stealth & Avoiding Detection
28:21 - Sometimes it's Better to Run
29:19 - Finding a Hidden Salvage
30:52 - Domain Era Probes
31:41 - Combat: Dealing with Missiles
33:19 - Pay Attention to What Weapons do What
33:46 - Salvaging Domain Probes & AI Cores
36:08 - What Factions Consider What Goods Illegal
37:32 - Outfitting Non-Combat Ships (& Fleet Speed)
41:13 - Recovering Ships from Salvage (& Mothballing)
46:29 - Outfitting Combat Ships & Weapons Basics
50:49 - Pirate Hunting & More Combat Tips
1:00:38 - Hyperspace Travel
1:03:10 - Enemy Ships with Pilots
1:04:12 - Keep an Eye out for Post Combat Salavage
1:04:29 - What to do after the Tutorial?
1:04:48 - Bounty Hunting
1:06:15 - Fuel for Long Trips
1:07:06 - Exploration Missions
1:08:16 - Trading for Fun & For Profit
1:09:43 - Other Options & Story Quests

[kumarsalib]

As a new player, this is the most useful video I've found. Thank you for the well produced and informative content.

[PiramidheadBrony]

I believe this is the first time I've seen an hour+ long guide with zero bullshit. Thanks a lot. Great guide :3

[Daergarz]

I'm commenting because this game deserves all the exposure possibly.

For anyone picking up the game; remember, play vanilla for a while, then dive into the mods and overhauls.

[drysocks]

For those just starting out I highly recommend investing into the leadership perkline. Wolf Pack, Trained Crew, and other perks buff the entire fleet making all ships more combat capable and thus allows for an easier time in combat.

[IliyaMoroumetz]

I started out as a scavenger, but I always had a hard time trying to get to those excessively far exploration contracts.... until you mentioned that if you bring a tanker frigate with you, the distance you can travel increases dramatically and I smacked my gob when I realized how much sense that made! Thank you for the video!

[ZiggyDGaming]

I've been wanting to make something for this game for a long while - watching Cohhcarnage play for the first time and his community getting so into it was an awesome motivator to finally get in and make something! Enjoy folks, hope it helps more of you get into one of my all time fav games.

[milesy]

Fantastic beginners guide. I bought the game yesterday and this is the first youtube video I've watched that actually helped me understand the game.

[jaysonjota]

Just bought the game few days ago and this is the best tutorial available hands down. This game is incredible and so under the radar I love space games and never heard about it until now

[Y_A_Z_F]

Another thing I'd recommend to brand new players is to try some of the basic mission mode stuff BEFORE trying the campaign. The combat in the game is amazing but the sandbox mode has limited engagements at the start. Getting a taste of medium/large fights at the very start can help players build the motivation to learn all the fleet stuff that comes later.

[RiskOfBaer]

I've started playing this game shortly after it released, back when it still didn't have the campaign mode. Discovered it through Total Biscuit's video (back when it was still called Starfarer), I think that was the point when the game really took off and it's core community started forming.

To this day it has remained my top 10 favourite game of all time, it is the absolute best space sim on the market with everything I'd want from the game like this. And if the base game isn't enough, there are enough really high quality mods to make it a couple times bigger, even transform it into a proper 4x game with their help where you can actually invade and take over enemy planets, and so can they. As a matter of fact I am playing it right now, yet again. The videos don't do this game justice, it is way more fun to play and has more depth than meets the eye, especially when it comes to ship building and combat.

[PluvioZA]

Hey man, great video for newbies! Just wanted to let you know, that when simulating combat you can select a custom CR amount by dragging the white CR bar at the top of the UI. So you can see how your ships perform in low CR conditions or max CR conditions. :)

[Higgs]

Once this game makes its way unto Steam, it will surely gain more attention. Then this video will be best source for new players, so much work put into this video, great job !

[NotRelatedToBob]

I had a lot of fun with this game ages ago when it was just skirmishes. Going back to it more recently I've felt completely lot in the open world struggling to work out what to do or how to know if I can take a fleet on in combat so this looks ideal. I'd love to watch more!

[Fallub]

I love this game. Mount and Blade and space, what a wonderful combination. Thank you for that guide.

[Lapiduch_Satanas]

Bought the game yesterday and this helps alot! The in-game tutorial is very short, veeeery simple and explains veeeery little about the game. Thank You for putting this together (in a very clean and professional way too), must have helped tons of people and surely more to come. Also shoutout to SsethTzeentach for an amazing, hilarious review (as always) that made me buy the game. I'll mention You on his video review too.

[kickit]

I actually just saw Cohhcarnage playing this as well, it was recommended to me by Twitch and I saw "Star Sector", caught me off guard. I picked up the game way back when you first played it but bounced off of it because of it's initial difficulty hurdle so this video helps me out a ton. Might have to jump back in and give it another go.

On another note, I just finished another indie game that completely floored me - Symphony of War. Steam randomly recommended it to me so I checked it out and it blew me away, I'm planning on going back through it again sometime soon. Anyway, thought it was worth mentioning. I feel like it deserves any success it gets. Cheers!

Edit: +1 for people who'd like to watch you do a playthrough of Star Sector!

[stin]

Great guide for new and experienced players.

I'm not totally certain how much Starsector I've played, maybe a hundred or so hours, and there was tons of information in this video on things I either didn't know about or didn't fully understand.

There's a lot to learn in this game, but it is truly one of the best space RPG games out there.

[boots]

Randomly recommended to me and I realised I own this game and bought it in 2014 and completely forgot about it. Email still has the key! Back to it 😂

[Kraken]

I just got the game and it's just WOW. Has all the elements a player like me looks for. It's also brutally hard for a beginner.

[wygiwyg]

after having you by my side while starting with path of exile i am more then thrilled to have you once again helping me unravel the complexity of this awesome game, thank you so much ziggyD you are awesome