New players starting

[haseji]

i like the idea.. but i am against giving them relation of 900 to start with... then they really wont get the idea of bargaining until they start to trade with other racial ports... dont know if it is possible but maybe you guys can include a seperate message that will show for the newbie when trading to explain to them they need to haggle for exp....

[CoonDawg]

How about video?

Show the newbies how a good bust or PR works. ***Include capture of chat screen with video***
Show what happens in a hunt (but not the 1000's of refreshes!)
Show a kill.
Show a close escape while trading.

Maybe have a sexy voice doing the narration.

[Thauglor]

A 10-15 min tutorial sounds good. And then a few pages off starting help like ardbeg said. Have links called: how to make xp, how to make cash, how to stay alive. I remember when starting SM it was sites like that in help files I was reading: How to trade and how to stay alive, then after playing a couple of weeks I looked at the rest.

[Kuwl]

I've thought about this for awhile. If it wasn't for someone holding my hand while playing, I would have quit the game on the second or third day of trying to play. I had all these questions, I never saw the "Manual Link" or anything.

Possibly, when a person creates an account, have a "Would you like to view the tutorial now or later" pop up on their screen.. Make it flashy and a NEED to view it before they move. If not, have a message that awaits them if they do not view the tutorial, telling them they should. For the first week of the game, have a little box in their CS saying to view the tutorial to help them out (or to refer to it).

Most vets think this will get annoying, but it'll only be for newbies. In other games, they do this, to encourage others to view their manuals.

As for 500 turns in a fully decked out NMV, no. Maybe give them full UNO, but not 900 relations, and not 500 turns. The game is turn based, if they enter it with 500 (max) turns, they will think they should get it every time. Increasing the newbie turns might help a few, maybe from 500 to 750, but 1000 is an aweful lot. If some vet deletes his account, and goes back in as a newbie, he could trade one of the best routes in game, in a PSF, sitting on his route to not lose turns fedding... for 1000 turns. You can get tons of experience in a psf with 1k turns.

Pushing some sort of manual onto people will be helpful. As for video's? They "could" be helpful, but you'd need to have someone that talks slow and clearly do it. Also, we'd have to do it in different languages....

Pushing the mIRC is also a big deal, but what about those who can't use mIRC? Networks block mIRC (because of the viruses that can be put through mIRC)....

Just a few thoughts

[Truth-dead]

These are all very good ideas in my opinion. Newbies do need more to start with . What they get now just isnt enough I remember back when I first started playing (SM) I made friends quick but still it was hard to understand the game it was very very confusing was like walking into the middle of a calculus class as a Freshman in Highschool.

[Masterblaster]

What about using betaserver to train new players? What I have in mind is a small newbie game on beta where you can do simulations (combat trading planet busting etc etc)

I see there are already "newbie helpers" on cpl. WOuld be enough post a link at login screen suggesting to contact a newbie helper on cpl for the "training lessons".

Would be nice if the "beta newbie game" would be closed to the rest of the public, to do some serious job there.

Pratice always better than theory. I have lot of free time right now and volounteer to help for that if needed or study with a coder the structure of the training arena and possible options. Let me know what you think.

[axisofunity]

God, all I seem to be doing is agreeing.

I agree and also volunteer.

[OmegaRenegade]

I kinda thought this suggestion already came up... though it would be nice to take it a few steps further, maybe being able to add "target drones" an such

[LotuS]

OK i want to re-evaluate this sugestion. taking the "good" sugestions and forgeting the "bad" from what i listed and test some of them into beta.

My origional sugestion

I think we have been thinking of tons of sugestions to help new players learn the game, make it fun for them, make them stick with it. But one idea we never touched was what exactly they start with.

Right now they get....
Newbie merchant vessel (1/2)
40 cargo holds
200 turns?
a laser
5000 cash
No help or tutorial
0 relations
0 maps

This has to be daunting to someone who is for the first time seeing the game. I have heard the game is weird until you get used to it(links ect) but they prolly browse alot of the links and dont find much related to help. most newbies dont read the manual. they probably start moving around, find a port, if they dont know how to bargain, they might just accept the price and wont figure out how to make exp or anything. short end of the stick is that most new players dont know how to do anything and they got bare minimum equipment to help them figure it out.

I think we should make some changes... here is what I sugest we do.

For people ranked newbie or beginer
-When they first join the game and enter it. They have a personal msg waiting for them in their inbox with a explination of basic gameplay, explain alliances, give links to manual, IRC, #smr-help room explained, and some helpful websites.
-Start in newbie merchant vessel. Start it with full cargo/shields/armor. so 1/6 rating, this will also not let level 1 ports kill them in 1 shot!
-Start with 500 turns. why? because what do you do when you see a new game. you wander around and try to figure out what is what and whats this whats that. your not thinking about i goto find a good route and maximize my exp/cash gain. they dont know any of this. so lets give them some room for error and be glad if one of them manages to get some decent exp!
-Boost newbie turns to 1000 at start of game. rest of game would still be 500. help them stay out of a pod for a little while longer.
-Start them with 900 or so relations with their own race, so they only have to trade a little while to start geting exp.
-Start them with 50k on ship and 100k in their personal bank accounts.
-When they die. They should be able to get a free newbie merchant vessel again at their HQ.

Benefits! oh ya!
Suddenly, recruiting newbs aint such a bad idea! if you train them, they can become very profitable for your alliance! I think the smart alliances would bring in new players each game to help get themselves a little lead on the competition!

And from what i have read, people dont like...
increased relations at start.
fully decked out NMV
Full turns to start


Now the rest of the sugestions no one seems to have a problem with, some even added maps of their racial onto my list. So how bout it? Try these additions without the 3 listed above which people had problems with.

[JettJackson]

Implemented changes to the newbies joining the game.