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Comment by iopuy | Hacker News Reader

Tried out KSP and just couldn't get into it. I may be the only one but there was absolutely way too high a curve to jump right in and have some fun. I did over half their tutorials and could not improvise at all based on what I had learned. Not much fun when I have to go watch a YouTube video to figure out my next step in career mode.

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The trick when your learning is “there’s no such thing as too much overkill”, I had a blast picking it up and learning the basics while making overpowered rockets. Strait up till 60km, then throw it over to horizontal, and full power till your in orbit. Efficient, hell no. Fun, hell yes. Because with this method, I was putting crazy Mun missions into space in no time.

The career mode sucks. Feels too much like work. Use the free mode and build crazy rockets and jet planes. And have some fun. Going to other planets and orbital maneuvers are really end game stuff, which you can learn after getting tired of blowing things up.

Career mode is great after playing around in free mode for a while.

I wouldn't recommend anyone starts on career mode, it's just too hard and too constraining for someone who's just starting and doesn't understand the basics.

But when you have some experience launching silly rockets into space, it becomes a really nice challenge to try and achieve the goals from career mode without having free reign over your technology and funds.

I always tells noobs to skip career mode and do science mode. You don't have to manage money or kerbal lives, but you still get a sense of progression and value as you unlock new parts. You still have a purpose and a reason to go do things (i.e. collecting science), but it's much less complex and lets you focus on just having fun and exploring.

I think a lot of people end up sort of mislead by the different modes - in so many games, "free play" mode is for when you've exhausted the campaign, learned the mechanics, and just want to mess around with all options unlocked. For KSP, the campaign makes some effort at a tutorial via the mission sequence, but makes "learning to function" much harder than free play.

I like the science mode suggestion; gating off complex parts lowers the burden of choice, but without the financial pressure it's just "try this and learn to use it" rather than a race to unlock more powerful gear.

It only took a few videos to figure out how to do things, for me. But I sure wouldn't recommend it without those few.

Scott Manley's tutorials were absolutely invaluable in my learning with the game. However I've never before in my life played a game while having a pad next to me to make notes, haha.

Come on, you need a spreadsheet!

Even then, by the point I put a few ships in orbit by hand I downloaded a couple of the mods that help by giving TWR stats during building and automate orbit/landing so I could focus on setting up my interplanetary satellite network :)

there are many plugins that make things better i think. one that is really great is the mech jeb plugin. it can autopilot for you. i really enjoy building and the logistical aspect of the game, but not so much the piloting.

I know many people like you, but I have always preferred the piloting aspect.

Learning efficient maneuvers to transfer orbits and rendezvous was where the fun is for me. My friend would often build ships with specific delta Vs for me to pilot to a particular body.

Also landing safely before landing gear was added was a great challenge.

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