First contact question

[Lordubik (OP)]

Hello commanders!

Now, I'm pretty much a newbie in Aurora, but after failing miserably many times I'm finally getting the hang of many core mechanics.

At the moment i found some NPR ships in a system, I'm pretty sure they're precursors. . .  But not TOTALLY sure.

The problem is that I've never actually met an NPR before so. . .  how do I hail them? I know you can start to communicate with them but i can't figure out how.  I've tried using the send message order with one of my scouts but it appears to make the ship go physically to bring a message to them, and if they're precursors it's not a really good idea. . .

[Detros]

Under Ctrl+F5 there is Intelligence / Diplomacy screen. You can find it also under Empires tab in the main control window and as the last button on the top panel of F3 System view.

 From there you can assign a Diplomacy team to said NPR and let them do they work by trying to communicate. Just switch to "Political relations" tab.

[Titanian]

On the intelligence window, on the left tab named Political Relations, there is a button to initiate communication.

The send message order for task groups is for sending the player a message that will show up in the event log, e.g. you want a cargo group to inform you every time they finished one of their multiple trips.

[Lordubik (OP)]

Ok, now I feel stupid

Thank you all for your help, I'll try as soon as I arrive at home!