New Player / Tips (Thanks!)

[fisune]

Hello friends!

I'm completely new to space things and also KSP, but I'm loving it and enjoying everything I discover about space/rockets/orbits/satellites/etc. So I decided to buy KSP and start with the Tutorials on the game menu. It's good! The hardest thing to me was the docking tutorial, even to catch up the other vessel "Stranded". But watching A LOT YouTube videos about rendezvous and docking I finally did it! So I was thinking... "I'm a PRO now, let's try the scenario with a Space Station, undock the Space Shuttle and try to dock this again". How stupid I was, it looks impossible, I got really frustrated about it. Btw, I was watching some other videos on YouTube about Geostationary Relay Network for example and it looks even more complex to me. So my question is... is that normal as a new KSP player? Get a little bit frustrated about don't get to some "mission"? Do I need to study something or just play it and at some point all get the practice/experiencie and a more understandable overall to do even the more complex things in the game? Sorry about the long post, but I'm really loving this game, even without understanding a bunch of things and I'm anger to learn and create shuttles, rockets, space stations, rovers, etc.

Thank you guys and I'm sorry about any english mistake, it's a work in progress.

 

[Tex_NL]

KSP does not have a learning curve, it has a learning wall. For new players it can be extremely difficult and frustrating. Especially when you see how easy experienced players make things look.

My advice: just go for it. Watch a lot of (YouTube) tutorials, browse images and experiment. Do NOT be afraid of failure. Failure is guaranteed. Failure is not an option, it is part of the process. Just try to have fun and learn what does what.
And do not be afraid to think 'out of the box'. Rules are made to be broken.

And most important: Never, and I do mean absolutely NEVER allow anybody to tell you what you should or should not do or how to play the game. Play the game how YOU want. Not how anybody else wants.

Edited February 6, 2018 by Tex_NL

[xlm]

I've played over 300h. I've pretty much nailed rendezvous, but docking is still a pain in the a for me, so no shame in having problem docking.

[Geonovast]

43 minutes ago, fisune said:

The hardest thing to me was the docking tutorial

The built in docking tutorial is horrible.  Almost made me quit the game.  There are good guides here (both videos and people) who can help you with docking.  Docking is probably the hardest hurdle to get over.  Once you have that down, everything else will come to you pretty easily.  You learn the most from docking, I think.

 

47 minutes ago, fisune said:

but I'm really loving this game, even without understanding a bunch of things

The first couple weeks I had KSP, my single goal was to shoot rockets straight up, and crash them into the Mun.  I didn't even know map mode existed.  After many failures, I finally pulled it off, and it was awesome.

 

48 minutes ago, fisune said:

Thank you guys and I'm sorry about any english mistake, it's a work in progress.

Your English is just fine. 

[Flavio hc16]

I cannot stress the message above mine ( @Tex_NL ),  Ksp is really hard at first, but when it's starts to go right, it becomes really a drug. You have to consider that for my first docking (2 months ago) I needed 7 hours of time ( i ended up going to sleep at 3 p.m). Now i can dock in 20-30 seconds without problems. At first everything seem impossible, then becomes hard, the normal, then you can do it while sleeping. As said above, watch a crapton of tutorials,, whey' ll be very helpful, another advice that i can give you is to download some mods, 2 of them should be must have for every player: 

1) ker (kerbal engeniering redux)

2) docking port allineator

then, when you becomes better, I also suggest you:

kerbal alarm clock

window planner

 

And don't worry about  those who tell you how to play and not play the game mod wise, or those who play only vanilla ( imho is a waste, this game is like a canvas, and the mods are colors) , play how you like it.  

About the mods, i didn't advice to get mecjeb instead of ker because i like playing the game while steering my ships, but mecjeb can teach you a lot about how to get efficiently in orbit.

 

 

 

 

 

[Vanamonde]

Not only is KSP difficult, it requires a variety of different skills, and every player is different. I succeeded on my first attempt at rendezvous and dock and just about every attempt since, but it took me 3 years to make my first viable SSTO plane, and I still struggle with them 2 years later. 

[Spricigo]

 

Rather than difficult I think that KSP is often overwhelming. Many things simple don't go as you expect and take some time to figure out how to adapt to that different conditions.

Most things come with practice and experience. But often you need to seek for help, in this case this forum is a good place where someone may point you in the right direction.

[fisune]

WOW guys! Thank you a lot for all information, really! You guys have no idea how I feel to read all your comments. Really, no words to thank you everyone here!

Have a nice day !!! Let's KSP!!!!

[Zhetaan]

@fisune:

Also, welcome to the cozy little family.  The community here is extremely supportive, and if there's anything you seek to know about how things can be done, please ask.  It's true that doing just about anything in this game is extremely difficult, but it's also true that finally seeing it accomplished is extremely rewarding. Per ardua ad astra, and all that goes with it.

[Clipperride]

The famous phrase coined by Gene Kranz (Mission Controller at NASA during the Apollo mission's - but with your interest I'm sure you knew that!) was "Failure is not an option".  When it comes to KSP, not only is failure a sure thing, it is also a great teacher.  As others have said, the learning curve with this game is pretty steep, but the rewards when things go well are all the greater for it.

My advice to a new player?  Science Mode.  Sandbox mode can be very daunting as there are so many parts available and Career mode requires you to make a profit from your launches in order to fund further flights.  Science mode is the happy medium between the two.  You unlock new parts to experiment with, at a steady pace but without the financial worries.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing with the videos and tutorials.  If you find anything particular that you struggle with, you're sure to get some help on this forum.