I think the newbie-friendly policy should stand. I mean, i was greatful when i started i had nice people to show me the ropes.
But one thing i do, and i have to, is deny newbs new equipment as a commander. Sorry, but i'm not trusting the fate of the game on someone who doesn't know how to weld another HA. Commed a game today, after some newb jumped in the chair and built a normal base, followed by 3 armouries. So i got going, and they were dropping like flies. Eventually i made it to HA, so two newbs got HA and Zazi got it too. Zazi was in dire need of welding and SOMEHOW was the only HA to survive an attack, the two newbs died near instantly.
So yes, show them around, but good god, don't give them a shottie or whatever they want and certainly don't trust them to hold their position and follow orders, because they won't.