Ok, so I thought it might be a good idea to do a general "tips for new players" thread to potentially make things easier. Particularly with more people about to be added to the alpha/beta as it continues. If anyone wants to add to these, please feel free to do so!
A couple of really basic tips for just starting out:
1. Hacking is super duper important. Get your science Exo's hacking points up as high as you can, as fast as you can. You want loot.... and lots of it. And alot of loot comes from the large loot containers, which are always behind the locked doors, the ones with a pink line through them.
2. Different things take different amounts of points to hack. The special stations, the ones that increase your scavenging level or decrease the enemy manufacturing, cost the most. I strongly suggest not opening too many locked doors (which always contain either loot, a healing station, a stealth-recharge station, or an ammo-refil) until you've made sure that there arent any of the "special" stations to get, as they're much more important. The potion-like stations cost the least, but as you've seen, they're risky.
3. You can destroy basically everything in this except locked doors. The only thing I can think of that cant be destroyed is trip wires. Everything else, even unused computer stations of any sort, can be destroyed. Be aware that enemy bots can blow up all of this stuff too!
4. Holding shift doesnt just show you your range, it also allows you to target things that you normally couldnt, including the floor, or unused terminals. This is useful for firing AoE weapons indirectly as well.
5. Sentries are your friends.
6. Range on your weapons is very important!
7. The store just randomizes everything each day except layaway items. Pretty useful to mark those, but remember that it'll only carry so many items at once. Usually you shouldnt need to mark more than one or two things at once.
8. If an enemy gets in range, and produces the red "I can shoot you" beam, you either want to be able to kill it in one shot, or get away. Depending on what difficulty you're on you REALLY dont want to get hit much. Stealth is great for escapes, and other purposes, but dont overuse it. Super-low-damage enemies like Commandbots though usually arent worth using stealth to escape.
9. Figure out which Exo has the largest sensor range, and use them when exploring.
10. If you have a siege exo, they're really great for opening risky doors. Stand back, shoot the door with your machinegun, and if it should reveal a bazillion robots, you have your rocket launcher right there to use.
11. Dont step on your own mines unless your trap avoidance is high enough. Preferrably, your mine-layer should be equipped with trap-avoidance items at all times.
12. For the love of pie, ALWAYS read descriptions for new objects/enemies. Make sure you understand how much range and attack power they have, and what kind of behavior and quirks they have. Even with known enemies, check them anyway... because they might have buffs placed on them by other bots.
13. You can use the arrow keys to change your direction without moving. Important for placing sentries/mines or using viruses.
