I've seen this happen informally where a veteran takes a newbie under their wing, and let's face it, Freelancer is a decades old game and with the mod, it's not very beginner friendly. I remember way back when, I was hauling black market light arms in a freighter, got caught by LN, then he asked me why I wasn't hauling ice instead (pristine ice was a server-side thing and did not show up on FLstat. I did my research on FLstat and thought black market light arms had the best return). Well, I knew nothing about ores, so this suddenly opened up a whole new world for me.

I think there's a benefit to implementing a volunteer mentorship program, where newbies and mentors could sign up, perhaps match time zones and mentors can teach newbies the ropes. There's a lot to the game and I could understand that it's very overwhelming. Might even reduce the number of ships that end up in bastille.

Thoughts?

Good idea, though this kind of support is already established via Official Factions. They have a standard to uphold to regarding support for what said faction does.

If you would like help with a specific thing, by all means submit via the official Discord or send it in HERE. Though for what you're asking for, I'd say to join an OF, only because all the members of any chosen faction have a variety of knowledge, experience and of course, cover most timezones.

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I would like to see a How To Play in green on the top row of the forum, which leads you to sign up to a ''vetting/introduction'' program where someone in your timezone can just fly with you and show you the ropes.

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(07-11-2024, 09:26 AM)sindroms Wrote: I would like to see a How To Play in green on the top row of the forum, which leads you to sign up to a ''vetting/introduction'' program where someone in your timezone can just fly with you and show you the ropes.

Honestly, we should probably put together a playlist of short tutorial videos and a Wiki mechanics guide that could be linked to a page like that too. It'd be a really useful resource. It'd also be nice if there were ways to mechanically identify and reward people who help new players find their feet through these kinds of schemes (for example, I've been looking at an award / medal system that integrates with the forum).

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(07-11-2024, 11:03 AM)jammi Wrote: mechanically identify and reward people who help new players find their feet

Introduce a "tutorial" faction of sorts? Or designate a current OF that could realistically handle most or all aspects of the game. That way it can be recorded and logged in the one area and spot.

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I usually just help people when I see them. If I'm busy/actively doing faction stuff I just invite people into the public area of the faction for voice and basic questions without pushing for them to join. But it's often an easier time to bring them along on whatever indie they have.

Bristol is of course easy for that since it's near/in Liberty, allows for mixed ships and such, varied activities. So usually can just bring them along what we do.

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I volunteer to be the best [Angel] (:

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(07-11-2024, 11:03 AM)jammi Wrote:

(07-11-2024, 09:26 AM)sindroms Wrote: I would like to see a How To Play in green on the top row of the forum, which leads you to sign up to a ''vetting/introduction'' program where someone in your timezone can just fly with you and show you the ropes.

Honestly, we should probably put together a playlist of short tutorial videos and a Wiki mechanics guide that could be linked to a page like that too. It'd be a really useful resource. It'd also be nice if there were ways to mechanically identify and reward people who help new players find their feet through these kinds of schemes (for example, I've been looking at an award / medal system that integrates with the forum).

I think we need to put together a playthrough of disco to a certain point. We are a sandbox now and if you dump a person in the server with zero guidence, they will simply not FIND anything to do. They need a plot hook, a gameplay hook. A loop.

I should probably make a LP video that gets me to a 3,5k trans and a mining ship. And just ship it.

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