I played a little bit of discovery about 6 months ago, I played a lot with DSE but sadly I had to move house and it took me FOREVER to get back online. I really do need to get back in contact with them and get playing again as we had a lot of fun together however all I was doing was trading and although it was fun I am sure this game offers a lot more and I would quite like to try something new as well ^_^
I was thinking that I would like to role play as a citizen explorer kind of character and just fly around and seeing the universe. I think this would be great as I could talk to lots of people and learn a little more about the universe as I only really got a very basic knowledge of Liberty, I.E. how to keep on the right side of the law.
So I was wondering if you could help me getting this set up as I think it will make me a better player all round if I can start to get a map in my head and trying to understand the politics of the galaxy a little better. I am completely new just about to this game and I still struggle with kitting out the ship and stuff so please don't worry about being too detailed (tldr) when helping me as it is really appreciated!
So a new character starts with a freelancer ID (or at least it did when I last played) does that allow you to fly anywhere or is there certain areas you're not allowed to go in and if so will the game stop me ending up there? I'm not going to intentionally break the rules but I might blindly fly through a gate as I am still learning how to get around but if I know before hand where I can and can't go now then hopefully I won't make a mistake.
Is the freelancer at war with anyone that I should avoid?
Is the starting civilian ship sufficient to survive any NPC attack? If not then could you possibly recommend a ship that would or is it that the NPCs get progressively harder and there is no real one size fits all ship. I can stretch to about half a billion in a new ship but I would have no idea which one to choose as it is a little overwhelming at the moment.
Thanks very much for any help you can give me.
P.s. if this sounds like a stupid idea or something that I shouldn't really do could you maybe suggest another way I could find out more about the universe in game? I will try to read a lot more of the forum too!
The Researcher ID was discussed recently, along with potential changes to the Corvo. You can find some examples of RP around the forums. Aside from the usual Nomads, Freelancers don't have fixed rep, but some types of weapons, cargo, and ships are considered illegal depending on where you go - check the local laws and possibly some factions' info threads to get an idea of policies and politics. Also, some systems are "off-limits" to Freelancers according to certain factions. If you can develop compelling RP and make connections with people, you might be able to get exceptions made.
NPCs have been toned down and are pretty easy to survive or escape in most ships.