[deccan]

Since I managed to snag some people into this game, here's my take for powergaming newbie isle (assuming that you don't have the expansions):

1) Do the starter quests for identifying and killing the animals to get the light bar and the NCU belt. The light bar is available nowhere else in the game and if you don't get the starter NCU belt, you will have to buy something functionally equivalent for like 5k credits outside newbie isle.

2) Once done, go to the recuiters' area and join omni. Then go back to the beach and kill nothing but Island Reets (those parrot things). Ignore the monster parts and reet beaks they drop. Keep the "Take Me to the Shop" and gems / jewellery they drop. Selling the "Take Me to the Shop" is the main way of making money on newbie isle. Selling them to the main vendor or the Clan vendor gets you 160 credits. Selling them to the Omni vendor gets you 200 credits. Continue to kill reets and sell the stuff until you hit level 5 from killing reets. You should have about 20k cash.

3) Go to Antonio and buy a full set of Newcomer armor, selecting the lowest QL of each piece available for sale. Go to the Omni vendor and buy as many side badges as you have armor pieces for. Use the badges on the armor pieces to turn them into sided armor. The armor is a levelling item, meaning that when you gain a level, you can use it and it will upgrade itself up to a maximum of level 15. This is the best armor at low levels bar none. I checked and found that even Carbonum, the best generally available armor below level 100, only starts being better than QL 15 newcomer armor at level 20.

3) Buy the omnitek sunglasses and the omnitek technical library. You should be able to sell them on the mainland to other players for about 500k each.

4) Do the Unicorn commanders' quest twice to get two omni shoulderpads. You won't find better shoulderpads for a long time.

5) Depending on your profession, upgrade your starter weapons by getting the correct parts to upgrade them. Talk to the vendor Antonio to find out what you need to hunt to get the parts you need.

6) Kill cargo droids to collect the parts needed to make a range meter. Again, you won't find a better replacement for this until much much later in the game.

7) Remember to buy your starter pack of profession specific nanos from the terminal next to Antonio. Otherwise you will have to buy them individually on the mainland at inflated prices.

8) If you are an engineer, remember to buy an extra solar pistol before you leave. Otherwise you will have to hunt for parts to remake it to make your engineer specific pistol.

Once on the mainland, sell the sunglasses and technical library for good starting capital, and you're well on your way to making a powerful character.