My friend I am still learning after dozens of hours. Just choosing a missile production facility for my complex took me 20minutes of reading. This game is epic, but if you can't read you are screwed
Basic tips: Do combat missions. With a little of luck you will get some of the enemies to bail. I recommend base protection missions and patrol missions as they have very little chance of a failing the mission.
When you get 10.000k + a few hundret thosand move to seizewell. The teladi will let you access the Stock Exchange which is easy, even though somewhat boring money. Read up on how to make money there. Once you hit a few million start up a factory or two and a couple of universe traders. That should set you up. I regularily access the stock exchange on long journeys to gain a couple of millions (the stock exchange is almost like very boring cheating
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Combat: you can always take a foe a size bigger than you are in a one on one. Once you get better and good equipment you can take on an M7 + fighter escorts with a bit of practice.
Also start training marines as soon as possible. It is pricy, but it takes forever and won't get done in a few minutes. It takes hors in SETA
About the story lines:
They aren't too breath taking or exciting, but they do give some nice and interesting rewards. Most of them will give you access to unique ships and/or stations (such as the HUB or PHQ). The Albion Prelude is a good enough story line to get yourself some gear and cash. I'd start with that one. Just read up on required reputation and similar stuff so that you can actually start with them. They also won't teach you very much about the game. You will have to read through some guides depending on what you want to do (commerce, combat, capturing ships, bailing ships, piracy, etc...)
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