Tallenn

It's probably the staging. You likely have the decoupler staged before or on the same stage as the engine. The game is not particularly intuitive in setting the staging the way that makes the most sense. Rather, it seems to basically add things to the bottom as they are added to the ship, regardless of WHERE on the ship they are added.

No problems with docking, just issues with rendezvous. I find it's really difficult to judge without some of the basic tools you have in KSP 1- mainly, the intercept data. I was able to do it, but it was an exercise in trail and error, and not at all efficient. Lack of a maneuver gizmo to make small changes didn't help, either.

My biggest problem with the UI: No maneuver gizmo. In KSP 1, I only made the grossest changes to a maneuver node by dragging the icons on the node itself. It's just too easy to grab the wrong icon, and minute changes are near impossible. I always used to just use the node icons to get the node "somewhat close", then fine tune it with the maneuver gizmo. This is especially critical when setting up maneuvers for rendezvous.

For the most part, I am loving it! There are only a couple of things I'm concerned about. 1. Parachutes seem to fail (break off after deploying, both before or after full deployment) randomly, though I admit it could be I am doing something wrong. So far, it's hard to tell which. More experimentation is needed. 2. Maneuver nodes seem to be... I want to say unfinished? In KSP 1, there was a UI that allowed you to make subtle adjustments to the node after creating it (as part of the mode control). I can't find anything like that in KSP 2, and am having a difficult time making small changes to a node. It seems like the only way to interact with it is to drag parts of the node itself. Someone please tell me I'm just missing something. Everything else is awesome! rocket building is fun and intuitive, flying the rocket is great, the graphics and sound are phenomenal, and the countdown is a fun addition!

I definitely agree is seems like the mun landing is rushed. IRL, they did a lot of orbital testing, including EVAs, rendezvous, and docking before even trying for a moon fly by. You certainly won't be able to do an Apollo style mission to the mun, without a lot of the tier 2 parts. The game is definitely fun, though. I'd go so far as to say more than the original even.

I'm loving the re-entry heating do far, but curious about the parachutes. They sometimes seem to just break off, and other times work flawlessly. Bug, or am I doing something wrong?

I haven't played yet today, but yesterday I went through the first missions up to landing on the mun. That will be my first mission today!