Getting Started

General Information
LuckCatchers is a very open-ended game where you can do just about anything you want. This, combined with the somewhat confusing UI, often overwhelms new players, and makes them unsure of what their first tentative steps in the game world should be.

You start out with no money, and it's hard to make money when you have none. However, here's a few things you can do to get yourself a small bit of cash:
 * Complete jobs in the area around you. The "starter" jobs, which are automatically created by both NPC factions, are usually a good place to start, as they have no deposit to pay and offer a small but completely safe reward. You can take jobs to and from player settlements, as well as player-made jobs going between the settlements, but you must be very careful with these. Both present the possibility of being scammed. When you accept a cargo job and pick up the container, the person offering the job can set their settlement to shoot you on sight, meaning any attempt to deliver the package would end in destruction. This would mean you losing your starter ship, the cargo you were transporting, and whatever the deposit happened to be. Other scams include making jobs that cover more distance than a new player would be able to, and jobs which have a weight that is too high for new players to pick up.


 * Gather dragon parts, found on the ground from slain dragons which fell there. You can slay dragons yourself, but killing them directly is usually done for reputation, not for loot. As a new player, reputation can come later; you're after as much loot as you can sell. To find loot, zoom your minimap all the way out, and look for little black dots. large clusters may be found around player settlements, or in hot-spot areas for dragon activity. You should be able to scrounge for a few bits here and there close to civilization, but in general, the farther you go out from the starting area, the richer the finds will be. You can pick up all the dragon parts you find (highlighted by orange squares) but don't bother picking up items left by players (blue squares). It's best to leave heavy, low-value items behind, such as dragon meat for instance. Check the local markets, see what they're offering for "trophies," and gather up all the most expensive parts. Sell those to either players or NPCs, depending on if there is a demand for them.


 * Try to join someone's clan. For brand-new players, this is less recommended, as it's better to figure things out slowly and on your own. However, if you join someone's clan, they may be willing to give you free money and/or ships, or at least a loan. Ask in chat if any are recruiting.

After you've gotten yourself some cash (at the very least around 10000 Solls) you can begin to trade consumer goods between cities. Look at local prices, figure out which places are offering goods for a low price you can profit off of, visit those places, and bring the goods back to wherever is best to sell them. Longer trade routes are more profitable, but take more time; for new players, stick to trade routes close to the capital and less than 20 miles long. These are safer to travel and very unlikely to be raided by pirates.
 * Trade the gold you get for copper on the market. Every player gets 5 gold for every hour they are online, so if you are desperate for cash you can simply leave the game on overnight. You could also buy gold for real money, if you are so inclined.

While you slowly build up a fortune through running trade routes, you should figure out what you want your role in the game to be, and start training in skills accordingly. If you want to keep trading, even just for a little while, you should invest in "Piloting Cargo Ships." If you want to become a pirate, learning to pilot strekolets or military ships is key to your success, although even then the odds are stacked against you. If you want to make bases and produce your own ships, weapons, ammo, and other things instead of buying them off the market, then there are unfortunately many, many skills to invest in, and the road ahead is long and expensive. You will want to invest in "Exploration" first and foremost, as without this skill you cannot gather any resources, which are essential to production. After that you can choose what you want to specialize in and learn the skills for that. Note that training Exploration just to level 5, at which point it is finally useful, will take more than a week, but be patient.

Along the way, as you are learning the ropes of this huge game, you will surely have questions. Don't forget to visit the FAQ, as well as asking other players in-game or on the Steam forum.

Video Guide
There is a Tutorial Video Guide produced by GibsonGaming on Youtube that you may also want to watch. It is a bit dated on some of the UI elements, but the tips, suggstions and everything else shown is worth watching the video for if you are totally new and lost. Video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOoajUmnZA