Someone reassure me: is anyone else really bad?

Don't sweat it. I got my butt kicked a lot when I first started playing. This is a very nuanced game compared to a lot of other ones out there, especially compared to any phone game.

I'll be happy to help. Let's start with any specific questions you have, or things you are having trouble with, and go from there.

Don't fight. Run. No kidding. Until you're ranked with 6 factions, fully permitted, and riding a sweet boat, it only makes sense to run from fights. (Unless of course that Jango Class is piloted by a very low level captain....)

Watch the conflicts screen like a hawk, especially when trading.

It only takes one well timed shortage to make a really nice chunk of space change.

So for non-merchant do you always suggest spamming contracts in the beginning of the game and only accepting pacifist ones? I did try this once yesterday, but even then I struggled with the trade bans when I needed to resupply and found myself a criminal in one or two.

I did notice this often. At first I never really thought about it and just clicked on some spot on my screen 10+ AU away, but now I'm micromanaging travel like a mother. Especially with my bad habits of my sails getting torn to pieces.

Do you stockpile things like records in wilds just in case of a shortage or did you just purchase some when you saw the event?

I probably should stockpile. But the truth is that I very rarely do. If I'm not playing a merchant character I don't often look too closely into the rumors. I'd probably do better if I did, but I'm usually just too busy doing stuff.

As for contract spam. Yeah I do a lot of it. I very rarely take the first contact I'm offered. I also reject a lot of good contracts just because they don't match my flight plan. What I try for is a sequence of contracts that are in the same area, or are all on the same flight path, and that won't piss off factions too much (so either little things like delivery contracts or ones against independents) I don't usually succeed at getting then though. So I'll either irk some factions by evading a ship on space, or dropping a terrorist off on one of their world (which if royally what I think most passenger contracts are). At that point the trick, for me, is too make enough cash to buy pardons with.

Lastly, early on (before you have managed to get stealth and piloting up a bit) you just need to accept that you will fail to run sometimes and that you'll take a lot of his no matter what. It's just what it is. Until you her ahead of the curve life in the game is a rough ride.

(i don't run from all encounters though, for me it depends on the captain.)

-abs

As you move from the Basic level through to Insane or Impossible, you definitely become more risk averse. At Basic, even when you are starting out, you can take on enemy ships and have some chance of survival. Once you get to a middling sort of level, you are pretty much like the space hero captains in the movies, picking your targets, and wiping them out with impunity. Reputations ... so long as a couple of factions like you, the others can go to hell, and man, you're there to help them on their way.

When you get to Crazy level, this type of attitude turns you into a smoking pile of drifting space debris within a very short amount of time. Even if you are lucky enough to survive to a moderately good level, you can still have a bad-luck experience that turns your 22 point hull into a giant sieve in a Thalun heart beat. Yes their hearts beat slow because, lets face it, their brains don't seem to need that much oxygen, but beat it still does.

When I start up a new captain on a difficult level, I focus on being very friendly with my home faction, getting a trade permit as soon as I can. If I am an explorer, I go and start exploring one of about 3 different worlds (low risk moderate reward worlds), and find some artifacts/electronics/weapons. Stockpiling is great, but at the beginning of the game, cash in hand is far more useful.

If I am going to a different area of space that isn't controlled by my friendly faction, I don't fly with any restricted goods. That way, I can surrender without causing too much angst. I still run away from pirates though (evil vile smelly scum). Retreating/Ignoring pirates is a good thing, and if you have a trade permit, they ignore you too. I haven't seen too many pirates bring up an "Acknowledge" option, even if you are really close (like dating one of the prince's children close).

I sign up for contracts, but only those contracts against independents (principally delivery ones). I don't pick the assassinations, blockades, or capture missions because at the early stages of the game, I just don't have the pilot skill to be able to get close to a target - they always seem to fly off into the distance leaving me coughing in their radioactive exhaust fumes. My Doctors have all said that this is yet another reason why you don't fly around with the windows down. What do doctors know anyway - next they'll tell us that the mass exodus from earth was triggered by global cooling (too many companies planting trees) ... but I digress. So yes, focus on the babyish delivery boy type missions (messages, people). They don't pay a huge amount, but you don't end up in a big firefight in order to have a mission success. You get +ve Reputation with the faction you did the mission for and for the most part everyone is happy.

If you are in the Javat Military (even Rank 1), you get access to a pretty sweet Javat Cutter. It's got a good hull, great engines even better sails and a moderate hold. It seems cheaper than a lot of the stuff that gets put up in the standard shipyard - those 2nd hand ship dealers are as dodgy as their 22nd century hybrid hover-car counterparts were.

What have I missed. Oh you already probably know about the always always always check rumors for surplus or even more importantly, shortage rumors. They are the things that allow you to get pretty good amounts of cash without having to buy large amounts of red "Expendable" ensign shirts.

In terms of XP - there are lots of threads on here about what you should focus on to level up. Given there are a bunch of attributes that will help you depending on what you want to do within the game, focusing on just one or even 2 attributes is useful during phases of the game, but not something you should do from start to finish. Do I mean you have to be the ultimate well-rounded captain with even stats throughout? no. You should definitely be more ... well egg-shaped. Have moderate stats in a bunch of areas, but have higher stats in some focal areas as well. My father told me once that being an Egg is the best way to get ahead. Of course, that was before he got critically injured by the larvae of a Proteus Ickiaglorus back on Leiwin-A. After that, he told me that buying the biggest biggest biggest gun and sending crew into slimy tunnels first is the best way to get ahead.

Don't trade with factions that are in trade embargoes ... even if it means you are left with trading with independents, and stockpiling stuff on planets. Make a note of what planets you are keeping stuff on as well. Otherwise it's a good way to burn through all your W-F supplies trying to find those elusive 200 artifacts kept safe in some planet cache.

Finally .. even being cautious and nice to old ladies trying to cross the road, be prepared to lose more than a few captains. Aliens, pirates, and nasty "accidents" caused by disgruntled crew all can lead to a very short life expectancy. As they said back in the old days of VHS and tape decks ... "Don't worry, Be happy". "If you don't succeed, try, try again". "Do or do not, there is no try." "Left of road, okay. Right of road okay. Middle of road - sooner or later, squish like grapes". "So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb". I'm sure there is a message in there for you somewhere ...