Couple Questions:

[Evil_Doc]

Firstly, aside from the tutorial, is there a GUIDE to this game anywhere?

Something that goes in depth about all the nuances, and explains everything.

Although I've gotten the gist of it (shoot some rocks, pick up ore, sell at station), there are still some deeper features that have alluded me thus far.

One of my crew keeps looking for her brother, and every ship I talk to says: "That ship went down. Check with salvage ops. "

Where is salvage ops? Do I have to unlock a feature at the Enceladus Prime station? Or is there a hidden station out there I have yet to discover?

Where is the bounty hunters HQ? Sometimes bounty hunters just randomly show up and say I have a bounty on me (one time I didn't), and to pay up or pay the consequences. I would like to visit their office and pay any bounties on me AHEAD of time, so I can avoid a potentially expensive battle out in the field. (Plus, I don't like attacking good guys)
Also, it would be nice to see what ships have bounties on them, so I can freely engage those vessels , should I come across them.

That said, there are some real jerks out there...... They encroach on MY mining spot, and tell ME to leave? Then, when I Tell them to back off they flee, but not without microwaving my computer first... WTF..... If I destroy them, in self-defense, I get a bounty? How is that fair?

Also, I noticed these little flashing / blinking spots along the ring (and on my minimap)... at first, I thought those were points of interest, but when I dived there.... there is nothing (except more rocks). Are those just supposed to be sparkling effects?

One last question, what is the best dive depth ... that is to say, the most profitable? I've gone out to the maximum (2700k) but it does not seem any more profitable than 40k... Actually, seems like about 30-40k is the most dense, and highly profitable spot...... but correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for bearing with me, and thanks in advance for any advice and guidance!

Loving the game so far.... I've had 3 different starter ships so far (Sold off 2), and am trying to get to 3-mil, so I can buy the Eagle Prospector. (Is it worth it?)

On a good haul, without damaging my engines / reactor too much, I can net about 400k in my current ship. Is it possible to get more than that?

[Uriel]

I'll try to answer this, hopefully in a useful manner :)

The "salvage ops" are not a place, they are other ships. The big ones that you sometimes see drag other ships. Sometimes they will open dialog, and yo ucan ask them for pointers to do your own salvage operation, or for parts (actually, you spend money and get the double of it as insurance for repairs). If you have a quest for that, you can also ask them the whereabouts of the specific ship your crew member is looking for.

As far as I know, the bounty hunters HQ isn't a place either. As for bounty themselves, if you have a bounty, that's because you did something you shouldn't have done. Generally, that's shooting other ships without being attacked. You can easily tell which ships are fair game, as they don't have a transponder and woin't show up on your LIDAR with a registration number. Flying without a transponder is illegal, so you can assume they are pirates, and in any case you won't get a bounty for shooting them. Anything else, use caution.

Just the same, being a jerk isn't illegal. And it certainly doesn't warrant a death sentence. So yeah, you get a bounty for destroying them. I usually punch a few holes in their hulls to make them understand they probably shouldn't p*ss me off too much, but destruction leads to bounty for sure.

Flashing / blinking spots are merely high aldebo objects, often minerals that happen to roam free after escaping another mining spot, or after their roid was destroyed by some microwave event, or... Pretty much anything really, but if it blinks, it reflects alot of light.

Points of interest are not obvious at first, but you can recognise them easily if you pay attention to the LIDAR. For instance, a space station will always look like a lot of reflective points close to one another drawing as curved line, and just behind, a blank space. That's because the station wall stops the light, so you have no information on what is behind. For a moonlet, same thing, but the line is bigger and less regular.

As for depth, I'd say it's not so much the depth itself that matters but spotting concentrated spots. Usually, you can spot the black "tears" in the ring when planning a trip. Thise are actually shadows projected by bigger rocks, so usually you'll find some good spots nearby. I've been told that very white spots work too, as higher albedo means more concentration of rocks too, but I have a harder time finding those, so I just go for the shadows :)

400k is a pretty decent haul. I sometimes get up to 500k, but my average is more around 350k, so I'd say you're doing fine, especially if you're NOT using an Eagle. As for its worth, it's a matter of preferences, but I personnaly like the Eagle very much for pure mining operations. It doesn't have a heavy duty hardpoint, but it has 2 dedicated drone bays and 2 light hardpoints, so my setup usually is a laser, a microwave emitter, tug drones and repair drones. Once you find the best upgrade combo for you, you can have a fairly nimble ship with a higher mineral capacity than the K37, at the cost of not having a heavy duty hardpoint. The main advantage, though, is the fact it doesn't have exposed thrusters at the front, so frontal collision at moderate speed simply do no damage, and at high speed, well, you won't lose an engine.