Beginner Mission Tips

[Maligner]

If you are completely new to the game and want some basic mission suggestions, I would give the following suggestions.

After you land on New Atlantis, most of the missions there are fairly short and give credits and XP. For some decent starting rewards, go to Cydonia on Mars in Sol system which is near Alpha Centauri system. I would recommend sticking with New Atlantis for the credits and XP first though.

Once you get to Cydonia on Mars, comb the whole place and you will find many quest givers with varying kinds of quests. Some of the differences here will be suit pieces and weapons. I'm not saying every mission will do this, but there are more quest rewards hanging out here than New Atlantis. Also, the vendor on the left after coming in (Denis Averin at the UC Exchange), way down on the end before you go down the stairs to the mining area, has a repeatable line of quests where POI's are generated. This can be nice for at least one trip to get some base-clearing gameplay in with both loot (I think a lot of loot for the level), credits, XP and rewards.

I also like the unique feel of Mars, which may not be to everyone's liking but it's so different from New Atlantis. The low gravity is also nice for the early game weight issues which is a huge plus for dealing with that. The hub won't knock your socks off, but it's a nice place to hang and level up, loot up and soak in the experience. Has a nice feel to it.

Also, for the loading screen haters I'd say Cydonia is an exception to the loading screen issues in the bigger cities. There's a couple places that had to be partitioned but once you enter you don't (for the most part) transition until you leave the colony again. I think only the living quarters area has it's own instance. I could be wrong, and I may not have found everything there is to find.

[tkwoods]

I'd agree and add that you need to look around. There are nice things to find very early game like in the lodge basement.

[Maligner]

Not a mission, but a great trip to take early in the game is to get yourself to Syrma VII-a And look for Vlad's Villa. He will talk about it with you if you ask when you meet him but I'm pretty sure you can find the place without talking to him.

In any case, if you can get into the basement, which I think has an advanced lock on the door, you will find a very very strong ballistic pistol that will last for many levels and is OP early in the game. https://starfield.fandom.com/wiki/The_Mutineer

[Mephitic]

Frankly I'm not fond of Mars. It is well done, game-wise, it just doesn't appeal to me as much as many other places. It is not my least favorite place in the Settled Systems but to me it isn't as interesting as Akila, for example.

I agree with you on early game exploration. Mars is a good place to get started (after poking around New Atlantis).

[Maligner]

One small tip to add that isn't strictly mission related; you can focus the cutter by holding right mouse button and this makes the cutter very strong. It will mine very fast. However, as a weapon it is very good early game using it this way. Range is about 10 meters but experiment with it early game and you will be pleasantly surprised. If you don't focus the beam, it is not very strong and I would not recommend that.

[Maligner]

One very big tip that I completely forgot about:

When you first arrive in New Atlantis and go down the ramp from your ship, there is a group of people talking. There's a scientist, a young boy and an annoying woman. As far as I know, you can talk to them but you can't get any missions from them.

You can go where they came from and it's very easy to get to and a great starting POI for anyone new to the game. There are many weapons, ammo and aid items in this location. The variety of equipment is nice for new players. Also a few digipicks. In the Alpha Centauri system, which New Atlantis is in, there is a Starstation RE-939. This is the stations the people escaped from.

[Gravity 🌌]

Scouting the area around NA can be nice for a start. The space stations / ships in the Alpha Centauri system are good beginner dungeons too.