The first thing you'll do is choose a name for your pilot and your ship, or just accept the defaults. Then you're dropped right into the thick of things. The backstory includes a number of federations and alliances with which you can later choose to ally yourself, but for now, it's just you and your bottom-of-the-line cargo ship. EVN is not so complex that you can't figure it out on your own, but new players will definitely want to take the offer of a friendly veteran NPC who offers to show you the ropes.

The first thing you'll learn is how to look at a spaceport's goods to determine what's being sold and for how much. Each port has its own pricing system for different goods, and over time you'll remember which ports will pay the most for the particular cargo you're carrying. As in all trade, it's good to buy low and sell high, and you'll be able to see at a glance which goods are marked for each. In addition to items like medicine, food, metal, equipment, luxury goods, and others, you'll be asked to ferry passengers from system to system. Your ship can only hold so much, however, so it's important to prioritize which goods will fetch the highest price, and to make as few trips as possible to finish the transaction.

The next thing you'll be shown is how to navigate the galaxy. From wherever you are, you can call up a galactic map that presents planetary systems as a sort of interconnected web of nodes; each node is a system. To go between systems, you'll highlight the one you want on your map and make a hyperspace jump to there. You can only travel in a straight line directly between connected systems, and each jump consumes a portion of energy from your hyperspace engine. At first, you're dependent upon a port to recharge this energy, which allows for about 3 - 4 jumps in a row without recharging -- and each recharge takes money to purchase -- but later you'll be able to upgrade your ship with more jump energy capacity, or the ability to automatically let a port recharge your ship so you won't forget to do it by hand.

You can get information on each system before you jump by clicking on its node; you'll see information for Government, Legal Status, Goods Traded, and Services. It pays to keep track of each location's info so you can intelligently plan your rounds to maximize your profits.