Okay, I am fairly new to PU. When I started I selected my profession and then followed the game suggestions on where to settle.
So, what’s going to happen with the new universe? With an off planet CX, how does the casual (non-paying) gamer fit in (if they can’t access the LM)?
Will professions be driven by reality? i.e. the first things that will be need are food production, to keep settlers alive, building materials, to provide shelter, raw material production, etc.
What will be firmly established (i.e. already existing). While we (the players) are arriving in a “new” universe, obviously the universe has been in existence for some time.
I don’t have the benefit of a long history with PU. That could be a good thing. I haven’t played with space flight (I’ve barely been able to progress my base buildings). Will I have to now add the expense of flying to a remote CX in order to get supplies (or pay someone else to do it for me)?
As I said, just a few random thoughts.
Elkhorn
Its just going to be production of very basic goods for a while. Water, food, rations, carbon, iron, etc.
It will be basic goods as Alexfrog says. As someone who started off-world, you’ll have to make sure your ships are filled up enough to make a profit and account for the price of fuel.
For instance Umbra to Kataona is about 200 SF both ways, at 10/SF that’s 2000 for a round trip, so you’ll have to account for that.
You should also join a corp like the villainous Nemesis-https://discord.gg/j4xaA37f.
I am thinking about starting off as Metallurgist and refining ore into metals. Will anyone actually want to buy iron or steel early on in the game?
Steel, maybe. It’s needed for PT which are needed for settlers, but not much is needed. Iron, definitely! It’s used in BSE, BBH, and BTA, critical components for construction.
Probably the safest way to start would be food and water production and sell it on the local market. Local markets will be much more active for sure, I assume CX will be less crucial in this version.
What local markets?
they need to be build first as well. Which needs FE, AL and that stuff.
Iron is very needed, yes. Whether it is profitable depends on carbon prices. They were volatile early on last game, but then eventually went down.
remember that last big bang of the economy did not have to manage:
- depreciation
- ship damage
- direct transport costs to CX
- population
I guess in the first weeks it will be very interesting to see all major essential markets (RAT, DW, C, FE, AL, Prefabs) to stabilize themself or not… 
With the CXs on an orbiting space station, there are really only 2 ways to start. Your starting package gives you about 12 days of consumables. Then you have to decide which route you want to take.
Go the independent route. Plan on regular flights to the CX station for consumables, raw materials, and to market your products. You can rent a warehouse on the CX stations. That will reduce the number flights you have to make. After the corporation doing the governance of your planet builds an LM you can do some trading on your home planet but it’s not going to be enough to cover all your needs. You still have make at least a few regular flights to your home CX station. You pay open market prices for everything. And you sell your production at open market prices. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes not so good.
Or, you can join a reputable major corporation. The biggest advantage of this is that they won’t let you go broke or starve. Some corporation are selective about their membership. They want see a newer player with good ratings, especially activity. Corporations are a good option for newer players because they can get help with the setup for everything from flying, to building screens, to production buffs. There is always somebody to answer questions. There is a regular market for anything you produce because it feeds the production of another corp member. The consumables and raw materials that you need are being produced by another corporate member. Communicate and coordinate. You will have a ready market to buy supplies and raw materials and to sell finished product at stabilized, usually below market prices. It is to the advantage of a good corporation to make sure you have the construction materials for expansion of your base at discount price. In this restart, construction materials are going to be available in-house to corporation members before they are put on the open market. After supply chains are established and stabilized, some corporations are going to offer discounted base kits to their members for off planet expansion. You may still want to make a few long flights out of your home system to sell your excess production or take a few shipping contracts, but for the most part it’s back and forth to your CX station and trading on the in-system LMs.
I played solo off and on for a year and a half. Joining a corporation was the best move I ever made in this game.
How can Corporations offer lower than market prices when there are no CX?
The only way to cooperate within a corporation is to use the CX early game, until LM are build.
LM will need the same production chains as the CM materials, except the PG.
LM won’t be a thing before week 4 (please proof me wrong :D)