So, I got both games on the last week promo, installed the first, completed the tutorial and left on my own in the galaxy.

And I'm a bit lost.
At first, I tried to trade some goods, but I don't really understand the trading system (I tried to buy something in a planet, and sell it anywhere else, but I don't know how I can learn about where I can find the best prices, besides the general tips in the tutorial). In addition, my ship has few cargo space.

So I decide to go hunting pirates (Or whatever they are) in those hyperespace nodes, just to being blow out several times.

So I decide to take a mission from a random planet (Venus): Deliver the item x to the planet y in n days. Accepted and, as I didn't have a powerful enough engine, didn't make on time.
So I decide to take the mission again, but "easier". While I was preparing myself for the first hyperespace jump, a pirate appeared and blew me after a short battle. This happens every time I try to complete the mission.

So... I have almost run out of ideas on how I can start playing this game. I can try again the "easier" mission, but I'm just a bit tired of encounter pirates who has better equipment than me. Any ideas on how to begin, besides accepting lose even more money paying the pirates?


Oh, and in addition: Do I get something -besides small loot- for killing the enemy ships in the hyperspace nodes?

Definitely take a look at the manual if you haven't yet. I also recommend starting on the easiest difficulty setting. There's also some other threads with tips for new players in these forums, like this one:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/space_rangers_series/a_masochists_perspective_or_help_required/page1

To offer some more succinct advice, though, here are what I consider to be the most important tips:

1) Check the news when you're on a planet. Here you can read about other planets that are in need of certain trade goods, or other planets where certain goods are really cheap to buy. If you click the paperclip icon next to a newsbit, it will be saved to the bar on the bottom of the screen so you can look at it later and remember where the deals are.

2) When upgrading your ship, pay attention to the equipment's size. This is the "cube" icon thing. Your ship only has so much space, so you want to get components that are really small. Equipment size can vary widely; sometimes you find a new engine of size 60 and then elsewhere you find the same exact engine that has only 25 size. Clearly the 25 size is far preferable -- it leaves more space for other equipment or for crago.

3) A new engine is really important, both for increasing your jump distance and for outrunning enemy ships in-system. To help find one that's not too large, use the search function while docked on a planet. This costs a few credits to use, but you can shop for a specific type of engine (check the manual for one that's a step or two above what you have) and it will show all the ones for sale nearby, including how big they are. If there's a small, fast engine nearby that you can afford, head there.

4) Don't fight anyone until you get better equipment. The best way to make money early is to take government missions. If there aren't any missions available, read the news for trading tips and do some trading. The news will also tell you when the Klissans are attacking a nearby system. You can go there early on to scavenge... don't fight, just pick up the pieces of the ships that the military destroyed and take them to science stations or sell them for cash. Then bring the protoplasm to Ranger stations for character points to increase your skills.

5) The race that made the equipment affects how high quality it is. Low tech stuff like Maloq equipment is cheap, degrades quickly, but is cheap to repair. The high-tech stuff is really expensive, lasts a very long time before breaking, but costs a lot to fix. Check the manual for how the races are ordered technologically. In-game, the equipment is color-coded by which race built it.

It's a tough game but it's a lot of fun if you stick with it!

Oh I almost forgot... which Ranger background you pick also affects difficulty. For my first game I chose the Maloq trader because he starts with a pretty big ship and is on good terms with all of the alien races. Some of the other starting combos don't get along with certain races which will make things harder.


EDIT:

Killing enemies in hyperspace typically just yields some equipment, but it can be a good way to make money if there aren't any government missions available and there aren't any good trading prospects either. Head to another system with an empty cargo hold, kill some ships in hyperspace and take the equipment, and then sell if when you arrive at your destination.

Black holes are a different story. They play just like a hyperspace node but they will drop a special artifact-type piece of equipment that is often worth using. If not, they sell for a lot of credits.

Uhm, thanks for the tips (Sorry for the delay replying, kind of busy here :P).

The only doubt I have right now is if I can upgrade the Ship's stats (More carrying capacity mainly), and how.
Oh, and something important: There's any kind of "time limit" in the game? I mean: There's a space war raging and I a a bit worried about being too lazy trading and doing small missions while the Klissans just kill everyone. Do I have to worry about the war or the game let the player enough time to get decent stuff?

You sure can! To do so, you need to buy a new ship hull. The things to consider when getting a new hull are 1) what kind of armor does it have (this helps you resist damage each time you get shot) and 2) how much space does it have. The space available for a given hull is shown as the "cube" icon, just like for equipment. So for weapons and engines and stuff it indicates how much space they take up on your ship, but for a ship hull it indicates how much space is available for stuff.

When I was looking to upgrade my ship's hull, I would usually use the planetary search function. While docked at a planet, just pay a few credits to search for a certain type of hull, and then you can see all the ones that are available, how much space they have, where they are, and how much they cost. I would typically search for a hull that had an armor type that's one or two tiers above my own. Keep in mind that new ship hulls are very expensive, so early on you'll want to make sure you find equipment with small space requirements so you can make the most out of your smaller ship until you have enough money to upgrade. There is a time limit, but I think if you play on the Easy difficulty setting then the Klissans will never quite conquer everything, even if you're being lazy and not fighting them. It will, however, limit the places you can go as they'll conquer most systems. That's what happened to me... I was playing on Easy and wasn't really fighting Klissans much, and they conquered almost all the systems so I was down to only ten or so systems that were still free. But the other rangers were able to hold them off at that point, and I finally got my ship powerful enough to start pushing them back. It was pretty cool.

If you play on Normal or Hard I'm pretty sure the Klissans will conquer everything if you're too slow. So that's an extra challenge.

Oh also, I should point out that there's no problem with trading and doing other missions early on. You'll have quite a while before the Klissans really close in, and by then you'll be getting good at fighting them off. Also, once you've played a bit you'll have a better idea of how to be successful so if you start another game later you'll probably advance much more quickly.