So, I feel like this needs to be at the top of the forum...

[TexRob]

I bought the game today and I was stuggling with building crafts in career mode. I could not figure out why placing stuff was so hard. I also couldn't figure out why there were two places to build craft that seemed the same. I also couldn't figure out why people kept talking about symmetry 3+, when I could only get it to toggle to 2. Yeah, so I guess there is like a shuttle/plane design area? This game is great so far, and I know it's a work in progress, but geez, they need to really work on the basic guidance, not just tutorials. There is nothing even telling you what the buildings are.

So anyway, hopefully someone else sees this and doesn't spend hours trying to figure out how to get into space by trying to do symmetry by hand in the aircraft hanger.

[Skyrunner27]

It does when you roll over the buildings it says IIRC

SPH (Spaceplane hanger) and

VAB (Vehicle of Vertical assembly building)

[lajoswinkler]

There are tutorials, you should check them out...

And there aren't really a lot of buttons. When I started with KSP, I went to tutorials and hovered over everything and clicked everything.

An hour later I was doing suborbital flights. KSP has a steep learning curve. Enjoy it. I miss that feeling.

[Vanamonde]

While they understand your frustration, Squad can't make a manual for a game that isn't finished. Just revising the manual would be a constant job.

[Rassa Farlander]

You Tube will be your best friend for learning KSP Its where I first saw the game, and how I learned pretty much everything. The KSP Wiki is also helpful, it has the full key binding table for the controls and lots of other stuff too! The forum is always a place to seek info as well Welcome to KSP

[SSSPutnik]

Your bandwidth is worse than mine Rassa. (4.5 / 1)

[Sirrobert]

Welcome to KSP

[SRV Ron]

Go to the Wiki. Study how things work. Then, go back to career to learn how to use the limited parts to do things. Build simple, you will have less problems that way. As you find out how things work, you will get better at doing things in the game. Then, start another career mode and see how much faster you can advance in it.

[Andrew Hansen]

I could not figure out why placing stuff was so hard.

Right click and drag your mouse to move the camera around. Left click on parts and snap them under or on top of stacks.

I also couldn't figure out why there were two places to build craft that seemed the same.

One is the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) for building rockets, and the other is the SPH (Spaceplane Hanger) for building airplanes and spaceplanes. You can build rockets in the SPH, and spaceplanes in the VAB, but each of them has custom buildings tools that make it easier for those specific things.

I also couldn't figure out why people kept talking about symmetry 3+, when I could only get it to toggle to 2.

In the spaceplane hanger the symmetry is different than in the VAB. There you only have two times symmetry, which is great for making planes. On planes, you'll usually have two wings on either side of the plane, so you only need two times symmetry. Also, it auto-orients parts to face forward in the Spaceplane Hanger which makes things easier because you will most likely be launching your planes horizontally down the runway rather than vertically.

In the Vehicle Assembly Building you build vertical rockets and have access to symmetry levels up to 8.

they need to really work on the basic guidance, not just tutorials. There is nothing even telling you what the buildings are.

Like you said, the game is a work in progress. They can't continually update an in-game tutorial at this stage of development. But as others have said, watch tutorials on YouTube. I'd recommend watching Scott Manley's tutorial videos.

[Tank Buddy]

The tall building is the VAB. It is for rocket construction and has symmetry up to eight times, and is symmetrical around the y-axis of the building so mass is balanced.

The building near the runway is the SPH. It is for spaceplane construction and is also dandy for rover design. It only has 2x symmetry, but it functions differently. It works around the z-axis, and is made so that wings, landing gear, control surfaces, etc., can be placed in a manner resembling a plane.

Mind you that this game is still in Alpha, and has a long, long way to go and improve. The great thing about this game is you have to teach yourself and find ways to learn outside of the game, and maybe even learn space-things that aren't related to KSP.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I feel you man. This game can be difficult to get started with. I'd recommend Scott Manley's tutorial on youtube, or there are other great tutorials there as well. Also the basic rocket tutorial in the game isn't too bad if you read everything carefully. There is a navigation tutorial that explains a bunch of things that I didn't understand the first time through. But when I came back with some game experience, the tutorial made sense and proved useful.

P.S.: spaceplane hangar differs from vehicle assembly building in that the build symmetry is different. Everything else is the same.

[TexRob]

Thanks for the replies guys. I had figured it all out at the time of this post, it was just something so simple I got wrong that it was not explained anywhere really, in game or even in other tutorials I looked at by the community.

I know career is heavily in development, but I sure hope they add tasks to achieve. It's fun to just try stuff, but I also don't know what the natural progression should always be. The community has done a great job filling in the gaps, but in game explanations or even a calculator in game for determining orbital velocity for a sustained orbit, stuff like that, would be nice.

All that said, the game is great, I can't wait for the final product. My dad's gaming experience consists of Atari, and monopolizing my Gameboy the day I got it as a kid on Christmas Day. He just retired though, and he is an aerospace engineer. He worked in mission control during the Gemini and Apollo missions, and I think he'd absolutely love KSP. Hopefully once it is released it will be a little less daunting. I worry about introducing it to him as a virtual non gamer at this stage.