[ADVICE NEEDED] KSP User Guide Handbook - For Beginners and Advanced KSP Players!

[yorshee]

I had an idea a few days ago to make a detailed digital KSP handbook with all the essential info you need to get good at the game. It will be a handy resource with everything you need to know, from optimal vehicle design to knowing the right phase angle you need to get to a certain planet - it will have everything. It will be useful because it'll be a downloadable .pdf, so it can be accessed offline and can be printed. A lot more handy than looking up YouTube videos, I think.

I made a mock-up in an hour or two yesterday with bare-bones info (mainly just to get the layout set up), the graphical look of the user guide is based off the recently-updated KSP website. I'll add an image to the mock-up to the bottom of this post, some of you may have seen it on the KSP subreddit already.

What I need to know is this: what sort of information do you deem essential to know about when playing KSP? I asked for feedback on Reddit and this is what I have written down on my spider diagram so far, it's a bit ramble-y but hopefully it makes sense:

VEHICLE DESIGN -

• What each part type does
  
• Engine ISP, Fuel Tank capacity, etc. at a glance
  
• When it is suitable to use a certain part (i.e. Nerva for Interplanetary travel, Mainsail for heavy lifting)
  
• Description of Resources (What Liquid Fuel, Xenon, Electrical Charge etc. is actually used for)
  
• How to make optimal, aerodynamically-stable spaceplanes
  
  • Also how to make a rocket that doesn't flip around at 11km
    

  [*]Guide to resource mining and how it works.

THE PLANETS (AND MOONS!) -

• Orbital and escape velocities
  
• Delta-V required to reach orbit around planets, land on planets, etc.
  
  • This could be shown like the delta-V map, perhaps
    

  [*]Atmosphere present? At which altitude does it start?

  [*]Number of biomes?

  [*]Oxygen present?

  [*]Phase and ejection angles

  [*]Gravity at sea level

  [*]Anomalies (nothing spoiler-y, of course!)

  [*]Radius of the planets

  [*]Maximum apoapsis before leaving the SOI

  [*]Altitude for a geo-synchronous orbit

  [*]TWR for liftoff

GENERAL INFO -

• General information about orbital mechanics
  

• How to dock
  
• Abbreviations (EVA, dV, TWR, LKO etc.) and other useful lingo.
  
• Equations (How to calculate ISP, dV, TWR etc.)
  
• UI explainations (the Navball, IVA view etc.)
  
  • How orbits actually work in relation to the navball, i.e. what happens to your orbit if you burn prograde, or anti-normal etc.
    

  [*]Key bindings

  [*]Useful part descriptions (Engine ISP, lift rating etc.)

  [*]Advanced techniques (Aerobraking, gravity assists etc.)

  [*]A guide to how Science/Career mode works, explaining each of the science modules, their science yields and purposes among other things.

  [*]Essential mods and general info about KSP's modding community

Here's the basic preview I made yesterday to show how it'll look:

Please, if you have any ideas for what sort of info should be added, please let me know! I want this user guide to be the definitive resource for information (I plan to use it for myself too! )

EDIT: FishiMishi, author of the (now-outdated) Reddit guidebook is helping too!

Edited May 25, 2015 by yorshee

[gsamelon]

Most of this is re-invention of the wheel with the official wiki that exists, though cleaning it up and making it look a bit better like you have shown in your example would be nice.

[yorshee]

Most of this is re-invention of the wheel with the official wiki that exists, though cleaning it up and making it look a bit better like you have shown in your example would be nice.

To quote myself from Reddit: I reckon it would be handy to have one resource you can look at any time, even with no Internet connection, with all the info you need instead of having to look at loads of different wiki pages and YouTube videos, yknow?

[gsamelon]

You misunderstood me fellow. I said you shouldnt need to search or ask, all the stuff exists on the wiki and just needs cleaned up like you had done. It was a compliment to your work my friend.

[yorshee]

You misunderstood me fellow. I said you shouldnt need to search or ask, all the stuff exists on the wiki and just needs cleaned up like you had done. It was a compliment to your work my friend.

Oh, I see. Sorry about that. Thanks!

[yorshee]

Just an update: I've finished my portion of the writing, I'm just waiting for FishiMishi's half now. Once I have all the writing, all I need to do is get some screenshots and put it all together and it'll be done.

[yorshee]

FishiMishi hasn't been in contact for a while now so I think I'm going to finish writing everything else up.

[ILikeIke]

TWR for liftoff is always >1.0 (I don't know what its supposed to be for survivable ascents from the few celestial bodies that have atmospheres). Good luck with your project!

[Thomas988]

If such a book were to be made, I'd love to have a guide on how to calculate a ship's Delta-V and TWR. After all, what's the point of knowing how much you need to get somewhere if you don't now how much you have in the first place.