Soldato
Re the learning curve, at first probably best to stick in Solo and avoid Open play. If the official ED forums are to be believed the game is still full of griefers who camp out at the "hot" locations and take great pleasure in shooting people out the sky...because they can. There have even been reports of gankers who camp out at Beagle Point (the Grail of exploration 65K LY from Sol) just so they can wipe out someone who has spent several weeks travelling there and lose all their progress along with their accumulated exploration data. Sadly this is still seen as an accepted gameplay mechanic by those who run FDev even though the consequences can be sickening for the affected player.
Quite how people get their jollies ruining other peoples' progress eludes me, but there goes the human race I guess.
Quite how people get their jollies ruining other peoples' progress eludes me, but there goes the human race I guess.