How friendly are people in this game?

It's a mixed bag, but most are reasonably friendly or at least not outright hostile.

Is it actually common to receive help from other players like that?

Depends on the request, but I'd say it's reasonably common.

I know I’ve seen some players doing things like stowing away and robbing players, is that something that I need to worry about?

Yes. Just take reasonable precautions and you should be OK. There will always be the potential to be ganked and/or robbed by other players. Just keep your wits about you and keep an eye out for players doing unusual things like following you in stations, loitering near ASOP terminals, hanging out near landing pads, etc. Also be cautious of players offering exorbitant payouts for medical beacons or using medical beacons excessively. It's a sign they may be trying to lure others into a trap. I generally recommend not equipping your character with something you don't really need for whatever mission/activity you are trying to do. Using mostly looted gear will at least mitigate any loss should you be robbed or just die as a result of a game bug and your body becomes unrecoverable, which in my experience is the more common occurrence.

I know this game has had a very long development cycle, how often are major updates/wipes?

There's usually major new build in the LIVE channel once a quarter, but it's not always on time. Also, they will sometimes extend a particular patch cycle if the changes in the build under development/testing is particularly complex and/or problematic such as was the case with the 3.18 build. FYI: Wipes aren't always full. The most recent LIVE build they wiped only currency (aUEC) and, of course, the non-permanent inventory items (medpens, ammo, sustenance items, etc.). Everything else including personal weapons, armor, ships, and components were carried over via Long Term Persistence (LTP).

There's a 3.23.2 build coming soon-ish (hopefully) with some fairly significant updates, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do a partial wipe then again. But usually with .x patches they don't do full wipes. They just reset characters and your home location. Your inventory will retained via LTP as will be your money.

There will almost certainly be a wipe with 4.0 planned for later this year. The extent of that wipe isn't known yet. CIG will usually announce before they release the build to LIVE, but it's going to be a big patch with lots of changes, so I wouldn't be surprised if they do a full wipe then.

Welcome to the Verse! I can't give you much advice regarding how to secure your sticks considering that I've been flying with unmounted sticks in SC for over a decade now. That said, I can tell you that playing AC repetitively will burn out your hands and wrists much quicker than in the Persistent Universe (PU) given the much more repetitive nature of the AC maps. If you are like me then you will likely spend a lot more time in the PU doing other things than ship combat, like simply traveling between POIs as well as FPS combat, mining, salvaging, looting, etc. I do ship combat to be sure, but when it's interspersed with other things then I find it less taxing on my hands and wrists.

I'd also encourage you to go ahead and jump into the PU and not worry too much about losing resources as this is still very much an Alpha game and it's very likely that your character will be reset in the PU with the next major update anyway. You can always buddy up with someone experienced in the PU by asking in chat or utilize the Guide System to locate one of the many, helpful volunteer guides. I would also recommend doing the tutorial if you haven't already, but if you didn't do it initially I don't think it will give you the option again until after the next wipe.

The only tips I can give regarding combat is first to practice and second to make sure you are never flying in a straight line while in combat. Combat has changed in 3.23 with the introduction of Master Modes, so many of the resources I might suggested for reading/viewing are a bit out of date. Still, you might want to check out the Legacy Instructional Series. Again, some of the information is a bit dated in regards to the mechanics of things, but the core concepts they put forth for combat training still largely hold. There are also a number of resources listed on the official "Learn How to Play"(https://robertsspaceindustries.com/playstarcitizen) page on the RSI website, which you might want to check out.

As for requesting a hangar, that can be done either using the comm's MFD in your ship, the comms app in your Mobi (port ATC is listed under Friends), or by mapping the request landing keybind (it may be already bound to hold N, but I can't say for sure right now as I have a custom mapping for that action [backslash]). The mapping can be found in the Options menu by clicking "KEYBINDINGS" -> "ADVANCED CONTROLS CUSTOMIZATIONS" -> "Flight Movements" -> "Request Landing".

Again, welcome to the verse and I sincerely hope you enjoy your experience.

While the concepts outlined in the team’s new paper pave the way toward making travel through space nearing light speed a reality, constructing such an engine is likely something that will only be feasible far in the future, as the present state of technology would not allow for such a device.

If they made a documentary about the life of little Bobby's brain worm, I might watch that. Provided, of course, that it's also narrated by Woody Harrelson.

The funny thing is it was the Trump WH medical staff that was found to be illegally distributing drugs to staffers. Not saying definitively that Trump was partaking, but ...

Trump White House pharmacy improperly provided drugs and misused funds, Pentagon report says

The media did indeed hype him up for many years, but at least some of us saw past that and realized that he wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

I'm not from NY, but I too was paying attention back in the day and can confirm, the Orange Turd has always been a deranged, self-absorbed, shit stain of a human being.

Almost ironic, isn't it.

As far as I'm aware nothing will stop them from trying to do that. It's up to the judge (or judges if it goes to an appeal) to decide whether their argument makes sense. While I'd hope that a competent judge will see their shenanigans for what it is, I have no doubt that someone has made that strategy work at some point.

To be clear, I'm not a lawyer, so naturally don't take my word for it.

"I was surprised that there were not more objections," from the defense team he added. "At one point, the court ... objected, because there was no objection coming from the defense."

Either they are bad lawyers or they were strategically withholding their objections in order to file the mistrial motion. I fully expect this to be brought up again in an appeal, assuming Trump loses the case.

Real shame they blew up those statues of Buddha. Those might have draw in some tourists. :|

People who say that scientists are paid liars clearly need to meet more scientists.

I've already scaled back my use owning in part to the LLM (AI) menace and general enshitification, but if my country (USA) went fully authoritarian I would definitely scale back my use of the Internet even more.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for addition of "Guzzle my entire septic tank." to my repertoire of insulting phrases. 😆

LOL, thanks for that article link. Fun read.

I can't speak authoritatively regarding ocean cruises as I've only ever been on a river cruise. It was, from what I've come to understand, a very different experience. However, I have become acquainted with a number of regular ocean cruise goers and the authors comments regarding it being part cult and part pyramid scheme rings true in my mind. There's definitely an almost cult-like adoration of cruise ships and the cruising life-style. Those people plan their lives around their next cruise. The amount of time and money they spend on cruises can be... shocking.

The only other antidote I can give is my experience witnessing what happens when a cruise ship full of tourists let out at what was a few minutes before a relatively quiet historical destination. The place was an ancient coastal fortification (sorry, I won't give the precise name/location as I prefer to not give out too many details of my life/travels), and for a couple hours prior to the arrival of the cruise ship it was fairly quiet with only a smattering of other tourists there, allowing us to explore the ruins and mull over some of it's curious architectural features and generally speculate as to how it's inhabitants may have lived. Suddenly, we heard a cacophony of voices, many of them shouting. Soon, the entire place (it was a sizable, sprawling fortification) was practically overrun with cruise passengers who had apparently been dropped off like toddlers to a daycare by their weary mothers. Seemingly, being on a cruise entitles you to be as loud and obnoxious as possible. It was clear, that many weren't even aware of what this place was or it's historical significance based on the many stupid questions we heard blurted out at the top of their lungs. We tried to solder on, but eventually we were forced to retreat out of frustration and embarrassment (most of the cruise goers were clearly from North America just like us). Anyway, it was probably the event that most solidified the idea in my mind that I do not wish to ever take part in an ocean cruise. Despite this event taking place more than two decades ago, the thought of being around people like that nearly 24/7 to this day fills me with profound dread.

Just another delay tactic. Here's hoping that the courts eventually get tired of all his BS and throw the book at him.

1. It would be a pain in the ass
2. You'd still have to post (alt)text for accessibility reasons
3. OCR exists

If this weren't real life that it'd make a great premise for a comedy show.

I really want to believe this is true, but the last time I thought "There's no way the country would elect Trump", they did. :|

Trump and his minions keep talking about "evidence", but based on their many court losses over the years due to a lack of it I don't think that word means what they think it means.