Pilots Guide: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:00, 29 August 2026

Sidewinder Cockpit Interface

This guide is designed to help new pilots get ahead in the galaxy. There are many career paths. You should choose a vocation that fits your play style and skills. The Sidewinder is the starter ship and used as an example. The concepts are applicable to all ships in Elite Dangerous. You can explore planets on foot, with a vessel or SRV. The Scarab is a staple vehicle for exploration. Veterans may find this guide useful to get up to speed.

Overview

If you've never played an open-world, space, trading, exploration and combat simulation game before then follow this Pilots Guide to get your bearings.

Elite Dangerous has a steep learning curve with complex controls and minimal in-game guidance. There are basic tutorials, but the game expects you to figure out navigation, trading and survival by yourself. However, there are free Third Party Tools for e.g. optimal trade routes, track market prices and engineering materials.

The controls require learning dozens of keybindings for thrusters, shields, landing gear and power distribution. You can customize the controls (mouse + keyboard, joystick/HOTAS or gamepad). By playing you will learn the basics like flight routines and gain muscle memory.

The #1 golden rule is “Never fly without a rebuy”. This means you should always have enough credits to cover your ship's insurance if it gets destroyed. The Pilots Federation covers most of the cost , but you must pay the rebuy fee rebuy fee (circa 5% of your total ship and module value). All independent pilots are licensed members of the Pilots Federation. Every pilot has the title "commander". Ranks are earned by completing activities and to unlock perks in the Federal and Imperial Navy.

The activities range from easy to complex. Space trucking, data courier and basic exploration are easy. Combat, mining, missions at settlements and system colonisation are complex.

There are 3 game modes: Solo (single player), Private Group (with friends), and Open Play (with everyone). Newbies are recommended to play in Solo or Private Group. Open Play has the added risk of random encounters with other pilots and PVP combat. Certain Squadrons support newbies and teach them the ropes.

Powerplay is a multi-player, strategic territorial control game where players pledge allegiance to one of 12 galactic Powers. This is completely optional and recommended for intermediate commanders.

The galaxy has a huge 1:1 scale with around 400 million star systems in galactic regions. Every region has species who live on planets or in space such as Lagrange Clouds. The most notable aliens are the ancient insectoid Thargoids and the extinct humanoid Guardians. There are a wide range of characters from all walks of life.

GalNet is the galactic news network and data aggregator in ED that broadcasts lore, market information, and political developments across the Milky Way. This official news is made by Frontier Developments. There are 3 superpowers: the Alliance, Empire, and Federation. There are also many independent people. The lore of ED is deep and related to previous titles in the Elite series. Terminology and acronyms are frequently used in wiki articles and lore. Learn the common terms in the glossary of Acronyms & Slang.

Communication is primarily via the in-game Communications Panel, which splits messages into several specific chat channels. You can also use voice chat and emotes.

Codex

File:Elite-Dangerous-Codex-Commander-Stats.png

Commander stats in the Codex

The Codex shows information and stats of your findings, progress, session logs and a curated archive of your discoveries.

The Homepage has the most important stats with a full body image of your Commander. You can customize the appearance with Holo-Me.

The Discoveries section shows 42 galactic regions with things that players found and things that aren't discovered yet. For example within a star system there are stars, planets, terrestrials, gas giants, species, settlements, generation ships, text and audio logs etc.

The Knowledge Base has encyclopedia-style lore topics about e.g. historical events, important characters, factions and alien species.

The Pilot's Handbook has detailed information about possible activities, ship outfitting and more. There's also a news feed.

1st and 3rd person

ED is primarily designed as a first-person experience. By default you fly your ship in 1st person from the pilot seat. There is native support for keyboard & mouse, standard gamepads (like Xbox and PlayStation controllers), and dedicated flight peripherals including HOTAS, dual sticks, and rudder pedals. You can switch to 3rd person by activating the Camera Suite:

Activate Camera Suite: Press Left Ctrl + Left Alt + Space on PC (or hold B and press Right on the D-Pad on Xbox / hold Square and press Right on the D-Pad on PlayStation).
Switch to Chase Cam: cycle to the external view and adjust the camera behind your ship using your key bindings.
Enable Flight Controls: you can steer, boost, and fire weapons while in the external view, but there is no cockpit HUD.

You can map a dedicated "Enter Camera Suite" key in the Options > Controls menu. Once active, select one of the preset external camera views.

On Foot is also designed for first-person view. The camera suite provides a 3rd person, cinematic view of your character and surroundings. However, your Heads-Up Display (HUD) and crosshairs disappear. You cannot complete combat nor interact with objects while using the external camera view.

Virtual Reality is supported inside ships and vehicles, but not on foot.

Guides

New pilots should check the following guides. Note: some guides are outdated.

Support squadron

New Pilots Initiative is a squadron that supports new pilots and develops their chosen career.

Support issues

For support issues check the following places before submitting a ticket:

Official FAQ
Official game support forum
Official customer support
Technical support
The Galactic Academy is a portal for new and inexperienced Commanders to get help and support.

Pilot training

These videos outline the basics of Elite Dangerous for new players.

Fan-Made video guides

Lore videos

Ship HUD

The HUD, also known as a "head-up display" or "heads-up display", is how all information inside of a ship is displayed in Elite Dangerous. <tabview> HUD/Center|Ship: Center HUD/Right|Ship: Right HUD/Left|Ship: Left HUD/Down|Ship: Down HUD/Odyssey|On foot (Odyssey) </tabview>

Gallery

Cobra cockpit interface

Cobra cockpit interface
Sidewinder cockpit interface

Sidewinder cockpit interface
File:CenterHUDLayout.jpg
Planetary Flight HUD

Planetary Flight HUD

Third Party Tools

ED has a steep learning curve and does not hold your hand, save for a few in-game tutorials. You can learn to use 3rd party tools and websites to make the gaming experience more enjoyable and easier.

The Elite: Dangerous Codex has a complete list of Third Party Tools. You can bookmark it, and use tools that you find useful. There are dozens of websites about ED worth bookmarking. Check the Fansites for a list of related sites, tools, data and guides.

The game utilizes an API that allows all in-game data to flow to multiple websites, tools, and utilities so all real time in-game data can be presented in many different ways. For example, Inara helps players search the nearest stations, minor factions, bodies, profitable trade routes, commodity prices, engineer component trading, ships, modules and personal equipment vendors. By registering at these sites and tools with your personal game API they can track your entire history and game data.

ED also creates log files every time you play. These tools can pull that data in various ways to give you a detailed log of everywhere you go, buy and sell, and other player actions.

Recommended Guides

A list of recommended guides to learn more about piloting and traversing space.

ru:Руководство пилота

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 [[Powerplay]] is a multi-player, strategic territorial control game where players pledge allegiance to one of 12 galactic [[:Category:Power|Powers]]. This is completely optional and recommended for intermediate [[Commander|commanders]].
-The galaxy is huge and consists of around 400 million [[Star system|star systems]] in [[galactic regions]]. Every region has [[species]] who live on [[planets]] or in space such as [[Lagrange Cloud|Lagrange Clouds]]. The most notable aliens are the ancient insectoid [[Thargoid|Thargoids]] and the extinct humanoid [[Guardian|Guardians]]. There are a wide range of [[:Category:Characters|characters]] from all walks of life.
+The galaxy has a huge 1:1 scale with around 400 million [[Star system|star systems]] in [[galactic regions]]. Every region has [[species]] who live on [[planets]] or in space such as [[Lagrange Cloud|Lagrange Clouds]]. The most notable aliens are the ancient insectoid [[Thargoid|Thargoids]] and the extinct humanoid [[Guardian|Guardians]]. There are a wide range of [[:Category:Characters|characters]] from all walks of life.
 [[GalNet]] is the galactic news network and data aggregator in ED that broadcasts lore, market information, and political developments across the Milky Way. This official news is made by [[Frontier Developments]]. There are 3 superpowers: the [[Alliance]], [[Empire]], and [[Federation]]. There are also many [[independent]] people. The [[lore]] of ED is deep and related to previous titles in the [[Elite series]]. Terminology and acronyms are frequently used in wiki articles and lore. Learn the common terms in the glossary of [[Acronyms & Slang]].

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