There are several game starts available, but choosing one is largely a matter of “theme” and will not significantly change your gameplay or limit your options.

One world

There’s only one “world” and all game starts place you in that world. The start you choose affects only (a) your starting sector, (b) initial relations with the factions. No start has unique content that’s only available to that start (leaving aside the simple flavor stuff mentioned below).

No matter what start you choose, you will have access to all story line missions.

There are some small “intro” sequences that may be unique to each start (e.g. in Terran Cadet start you get some small intro stuff about repairing some satellites and investigating a wreck; in one of the Tides of Avarice starts you start in a prison cell and there’s a small escape sequence). Once past these introductory items, you’re in the same galaxy with the same options as with every other start.

In all starts, you begin with a simple ship and a small sum of credits.

Differences

Starts differ mainly by making certain story lines “automatic” with related game starts. The Boron start will make the Boron story line start automatically (vs having to find the start yourself). The Terran Cadet start will make the Solborn Militia story line start automatically. Other starts have similar connections to “local” story lines.

As mentioned above, though, this in no way limits what other story lines you’ll have access to in your game.

Guided starts

Some story lines offer more guidance than others, making them more suitable for new players. Choosing a start that leads directly to one of these story lines can be helpful.

Once you start, even if you are given “assignments”, you are free to ignore them. You can go off and do whatever you feel like, at any time, ignoring the story missions completely. In fact, you may need to do so, in order to earn money and gather resources for some of the missions.

[Editorial note: my policy is to avoid making recommendations about subjective topics like “which start is best?” in order to keep the information here focused on facts vs opinions. But in the interest of providing at least some guidance for newer players, a few comments follow on the understanding that they’re one person’s opinions.]

The devs have acknowledged that the starts provided in the base game didn’t benefit from the “guidance” they were able to work on incorporating to starts added in later expansions. So the Young Gun start, for example, is maybe not the best choice for guidance.

All the base-game starting scenarios are good, though, so if you feel like you can maybe get by with less guidance and one sounds interesting, go for it! [Hopefully this website will help!]

If you have the DLC available:

• Cradle of Humanity:
  • The Terran Cadet start provides a good deal of guidance that is a little more combat-focused than others.
  • The Project Genesis start provides some guidance and an easy lead-in to obtaining the Player HQ station (see the Main Story section).
• Split Vendetta:
  • The Split starts are quite challenging, and perhaps not the most suitable for learning the game — the Split areas in general are challenging due to being remote from the core of the gate network and strong pressure from enemy factions.
• Tides of Avarice:
  • The Stranded start provides a good deal of guidance for parts of the game, and requires less experience with combat and tactics than others. [Editorial note: this is my personal favorite go-to start because it can lead anywhere I want to go with my “theme” for the game. Plus, it’s the only start where someone decides to give you a slightly insulting nickname!]
  • The Smuggler’s Paradise start is also suitable, but provides less guidance for learning the overall game (hint: fly up into Windfall with something illegal in your ship or personal inventory).
• Kingdom End:
  • The Emergence start is interesting, but can be challenging for new players as it doesn’t provide many opportunities for learning to make money as part of the story.
  • The Queen’s Herald start is not recommended for new players as it jumps ahead and skips almost all of the new Story Line content added with this DLC. It’s good content, and you’ll be missing out by skipping it.