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Yah, found it in the general thread...

personally, more concerned with UI on the status screen. It'll definitely get cleaned up (lots of overlaps, depending on the device), but I'd trade off on the naming convention (verb, noun, adj, etc.) to just have a word that 'fits' well and creates a better UI visually. So a longer word (or two word) description may or may not fit.  *shrug*

I'm sure Andrew already has it figured out tho 

Interesting.

If we rename, might I suggest MEDICAL vs Medicine? Doctors do more than issue pills and shots 

DaReaper95  there are a LOT of levers going on in the game. We are still very alpha in many areas in the UI.

That being said, yes, there is a lot of benefit that fresh eyes bring to this phase of the alpha testing, so keep challenging! Many of us have been 'working around' issues and early UI, that we often forget the big picture, much less the initial shock of a new player getting a handle on a game of this complexity and depth.

Many of us know that the scrolling log will have the ability to display a lot more detail so we can clearly see 'what happened' in a certain situation; but right now is just displaying certain things that the TBs used as a starting point (and hasn't changed at all yet.) But yes, it's not uncommon to take a health or morale hit and not see anything in the log after the dashboard shows you have crew that need a doctor. (What the heck was that I ran into?)

By launch, we need to have an organized grouping (or wiki) of the basics to make it easier for newbies to learn the basics. Perhaps dedicated threads with links to information that is currently scattered over 6 months of posts on the ST2 forum. I'm planning on putting a nuts to bolts 'Let's Play' series of vids out simply because there is so much depth in the game.

A couple quick pointers:
1. STATUS screen gives you a snapshot of the ship and crew capabilities (and vulnerabilities). You don't want to be below 100% on any of the blue bars, and you will max benefit at 150% From your HUD in the above pics, you are below 100% in gunnery, ship ops, electronics, so more susceptible to things going wrong there (not enough crew or not enough skill level) to handle normal ship duties or deal with emergencies. Of course, on BRUTAL, the tests (and penalties) will be that much more magnified.

2. When your crew levels up, be sure to snag the talents which offer saves (Command Save, Pilot Save, etc...). If you fail a dice roll in one of these areas, the save will kick in. There is a 3 week cooldown, so doubling up on these talents in early game isn't a bad idea. You can see how you are doing in the scrolling log (Passed Test, Failed Test, Test Save), but yes, not all the detail is in the logs.

3. Play around with the GAME SETUP with PRIORITIES. Higher PRIORITY captain will give you a more experienced crew (and a lot more TALENTS to start with), that you should be able to fend yourself better (less failed TEST rolls) early game. Higher PRIORITY ship will give you a bigger budget to get a ship with a larger crew, more armor, weapons... but a lot more mouths to feed (and pay). Personally, I've not had much success with the Juror class ship to start out with, but many others have.  But the Juror isn't a feasible Merchant vessel either, which I normally play. Higher PRIORITY Contacts will give you a better rating with them to start, so you'll get better services and missions initially.

4. Balancing in a lot of areas of the game hasn't been a priority, getting all of the game features installed has been the primary focus. So certain areas of the game are still harder than they will end up being, other areas will become more challenging. So the first 500 turns of the game is a real challenge while you get your crew upgrades and talent spread to your liking, finding some kind of income generator to keep from going broke (Trading is my primary) while you fix, fuel the ship and heal, spice the crew) and gain experience. I started playing on BASIC while figuring out the best setup, strategy and approach (for me) to play for a Merchant captain, and now have a blast at much higher difficulties. When I play as any other type of captain, I have to ratchet the difficulty back down while figure out these things again.

5. Maps. A smaller map with high density will be easier to travel around in; 20 sectors at highest density might be a good starting point. Keep in mind that maps are procedurally generated, so some maps are better than others, depending on your particular game setup and faction. When I make a new map and have a good idea of sectors, I often think that 'this one would be a really awesome map for a Thulun Explorer' or a 'nightmare for a DeValtos Merchant'. Fortunately, maps are now generated from seeds, so you can create the exact same map on different platforms and share with others.  Or start a new game with that map, knowing it should be good for your chosen profession, setup, and faction.

As mentioned before, we'll need a GETTING STARTED pinned folder which has pointers to all the great combined knowledge already on the forums, including Captain Setups, Maps & Seeds, Ship strength and weaknesses, Officers & Job Stacking, etc...

As to your current predicament (game listed above), there are lots of people willing to specifically help you get going and find some success as you tinker. Add to thread or start a new one with your ABCDE setup information and you'll quickly get feedback/advice on whatever issues you run into. (see pic below) 

From the info you have listed above I'd initially recommend a ship that holds more crew (30-40) and A or B priority for your profession.  This will give you a good injection of save talents from the start to keep you from failing so many tests at first while you figure things out (Less health, morale, ship damage).  Also, find an officer that has an upgrade to both job and talent available on turn 1, train them in doctor, then choose doctor save as your talent.

As an example, here is my current setup for a Merchant (the ABCDE setup info), and with that data, I could get some good advice/critique from others on how to be successful playing, or what challenges I might run into. In this case, a low level merchant captain with a big ship has to establish trade routes and take missions at the same time to make it through the critical 500 turn milestone.  But I can pass a lot of early mission tests with such high attributes on the captain, so I focus on ship operation saves with my first few rounds of leveling up with the crew; and can have 5 officers from the start to balance out skill deficiencies. To note, grävling thinks I'm nuts for playing this way.

Haha, the setup let's you attempt as few as 3 quadrants, crashes when trying to generate. oh well, sure that'll get fixed.

good catch Sinocelt
yah, we caught that one early in the alpha, and never occurred to me (nor anyone else) to re-check it.  Fresh eyes see fresh things 

Confirming on Mac that story mode did NOT trigger with Retired Explorer Jensaje Hyvnit nor Spice Trader Tuemette.