It is good to see that many people are still helping new members.
One thing I would like to add is - After encountering several ships, make sure to save your progress.
Depending on the amount of RAM (not Hard Drive Space) the game sometimes tends to run out of memory space. For example: Someone with 32g of Ram can play much longer then someone with 8g of Ram
Many Textures and Models stay in memory and after encountering a large task force it is a good idea after you are clear to surface and save progress.
Regards!
TheBeast