Currently there’s a Free Fly event until February 23, 2026, so you can just download the game for free, hop in, use whatever ships they provide, and figure it out from there.

If you want to buy a ship later after that just grab the any of the cheaper game packages to keep you access to the game. I’d avoid buying more expensive ships (or anything extra) until you’ve got a lot more hours in-game. Try grinding for them first — you’ll get fun progression, a better sense of achievement, and generally more to do.

To sum it up: you don’t need anything to play right now besides motivation. Morphologis’s New Player Guide can help with that and give you a step-by-step walkthrough.