4Game

So I've got past the stage of a newcomer, I'm at 4 million credits and still near the starting zone, but I need to know what I'm missing and where I go from here. Here's my questions (that were not answers through internet browsing):

1) I've mostly stuck to cargo jobs, with some passengers. How tough are pirate/assassination missions? Can you tell how strong your ship has to be in order to complete a kill?

2) Where can I find the most player activity (newcomer or longterm). Yeah, 99% of the time, areas will be playerless due to the nature of the game, but it would be nice to do some events with strangers and I need to know where to go.

3) What's the advantage of having an A.I crew? I prefer to solo my ship, but am I making things harder on myself? Also how does multiplayer crew work?

4) I've been told to get started with Engineers asap. I've collected a handful of materials from emissions, but what do I need to do to get started? Also can you do anything from those destroyed computers found?

5) I've done the tutorial on mining, and most guides seem to be 10 million credits of mining bits, can I just laser random rocks and sell what I find? (even if inefficient). Also if you accept a mining mission, does it tell you what rocks to mine to complete it?

6) I'm currently in a Cobra Mark III ship, an all-rounder trying multiple roles. Is it better to focus on one role, and would it cost much to transfer ships from very long distances?

7) I've noticed more expensive ships are bigger and slower. Does this affect landing much in stations and is the slow decrease a big time difference in jumping between stars?

8) I've been selling my cartographic maps asap, since it seems like good money. Should I not be doing this for whatever reason? What's the downside?

9) Is there an easier way to find item types without looking at a website? The ingame says only explored stations reveal what they export/import. How do supply missions expect you to find items without wasting time?

10) I don't understand the mass control of map travelling. If I carry additional items after planning a route, and I can no longer jump, how do I tell a map how many items/weight I have?

11) How do you transfer fuel to another ship like the Fuel Rats? Does running out of fuel happen often outside newcomers?

12) Is it worth storing items at stations since you can't transfer them? Or is it possible to transfer them like ships (unless you use ships to store them)

13) What do I need for search/blackbox missions? Can I accept a mission and then be screwed by not having the right ship items, or where to look correctly?

14) Attacking area/disabling object missions. Are they worth doing? Like the question beforehand, can you screw up without the right items/guidance?

15) Is there downside to being a criminal by smuggling/killing lawful targets? Can you be hunted by other players? Do more people play more lawfully or criminally ingame?

16) It's still not clear to me despite looking this up. How do you know who a player is compared to an A.I. Most people are bots I've come across, but I don't know the best way to find a "commander" in a name, or a different looking icon on the minimap.

17) If your exploring planets on the ground, what's the advantage to this? What is there to do (beyond my experience)

18) Is there an easier way to buy cosmetics for your ship without paying IRL money. What do I do?

19) Where do I get started with player squadrons/groups. How do I find what ones I can join and can I also find them ingame?

20) I've not had much combat experience, when targeting an enemy ship, do you shoot the ship itself or the moving circles? It's not clear what way hits the ship (other than being really close at it)

21) Is the game one server with crossplay between platforms? I saw 20'000 players on Steam alone, is the community split between different serves?

22) Is passengers the best source of money at my current stage? Adventure passengers are tedious, but its the best idea I have at the moment.

23) Short history of Elite: Dangerous? What big events did I miss in the last 6 years?

24) Is it possible to jump further than star to star in the future? What's the quickest way to travel the galaxy (other than upgrades)

25) Following on the last question, how do friends even meet up in this game? You could be near other end of the galaxy, what's the easiest method of solving this?