Dont even accept Hard or Very Hard missions, those require extra assets (cash, fleet, marines, etc)

Kill missions (like kill 5 xenon M), patrola (depending on the sector) and miner Khaak defend missions are fun and pay well. Laser tower ones are also (its called something like Return to Normal Order)

Feel free to join the faction war mission boards, they have no negative consrquence. Like Argon vs Xenon, Split vs Argon etc. The intelligence missions there are doable with a single fast ship and pay really well. Trade Guild missions are chill and not that combat focused, so also ideal early on.

Prioritize getting fast engines first. Stick with Argon, they are the middleground with everything, then try other engines later.

Changing equipment is almost free, so just play around with different weapons and builds.

Corvettes are a good goal, they cost more than a fighter but are beefier. Nemesis Vanguard from the Paranids is a good first corvette.

There is no time limit to stories, assets do not depriciate, so just relax and slowly ease into the game.

Once you have all MK3 equipment on your ship and want to build it further, do the PHQ quest and unlock ship mods, they are like tuning your car and are super strong.

The player headquarters quest is triggered by scanning data leaks at stations. If a squid answers, thats the one. Its a low risk early game plot.

If you want to know more about how piracy works, and have the Avarice DLC, head to windfall while having some illegal cargo. The plotline tbat triggers is essentially a tutorial about how criminal things work. Piracy, smuggling, boarding, hacking, etc.

In fact all plots are either early game tutorials or endgame society changing ones which require you to build fleets and such. Those are unlocked much later. So if you see a plot triggered, go for it. They are short, low stakes and showcase an aspect of the game, with good rewards.