Include information about the new Route button and the universal mission list in the tutorials somewhere. I see it more often than any other newb question these days.

Yes, it has been the biggest newbie issue since it was added. We have complained about it over and over, and the devs have still failed to do anything about it.

Personally I disagree that this would be an effective solution. There is too much information for a newbie to learn as they do the tutorials. Little bits like this will be too easy to miss. It would help, but not enough.

I maintain that the best solution would be making the feature optional with an easy checkbox right there on the menu screen, and then disabling it by default. Being right there, people will easily see it and figure out how to use it, and it would be handy for people who generally don't want to see the non-local missions anyway.

Failing that, at least significantly alter the appearance of non-local missions. Grey them out enough for it to be blatantly obvious that they are unavailable. This has the advantage of making clear to the newb that there are more missions out there in case they're too stupid to manage checkboxes. I understand the artist guy is or will be working on the UI. This can be done then.

Ideally, implement both of those and the OP.

This game is only newb friendly if the newb has a lot of time and patience.

Hmm, another idea: The first time the "Route" button is clicked, pop up a dialog box explaining it. Explanations make a lot more sense when they are read at a time when the reader has an immediate interest in what the explanation is explaining.

Give it a "don't show this message again" checkbox.

I like this idea best of all as far as the "solving the confused newbie" aspect goes. Still want the others for personal convenience.

The post right above this one is the best solution

Instead of Pizza's explanation of usage, why not add a drop-down with selection of missions "range", like:
>Local Only
-Sector
-System
-Nation
-Universe

Even more logical, comes with "Local-only" as default, and anyone who selects anyting different will see a new button, logically related to mission location by drop-down selection;

A dropdown menu with the Route explanation dialogue sounds like the best combination to me. However, Sector is redundant as there is only one station per sector right now.

Not quite tarenty - on "local only", you wouldn't see any missions in space, just a message about needing to dock like we used to see. But on "sector" you'd still see the missions the local sector offers while in space.

I totally agree with the need to make the new mission system and route mechanics clearer to new people.