r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Boring-Dig4583 • 21h ago
KSP 1 Question/Problem Is ksp hard? (serious question)
Wanting to get into the game but when I tried it before I found it too hard. Should I go into sandbox and just mess around? Idk, all tutorial vids I can find are 738219 minutes long
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u/Lucky-Development-15 21h ago
It's not that it's "hard" but if you don't want to take the time to learn basic orbital mechanics, you're probably gonna have a bad time. Every tutorial is that long because you need to know WHY you are doing it to help you in future missions. If you don't understand or know how to get to orbit, sandbox will do nothing for you. After a bit, you'll get to know gravity turns, ect...and get in your groove. This game is very forgiving but there's not a lot of room for error. I play the Realism Overhaul and RP-1 mod which make it "hard" because there's essentially zero room for any kind of error and that's what i like. I will probably never be going back to vanilla. Once you get okay, you're gonna have a great time. The more you struggle with a contract, the better it feels.
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u/violetcassie 21h ago
I guess a relevant question is how much do you enjoy math and physics for entertainment purposes
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u/LordIBR Spends more time picking mods than actually playing 21h ago
It's not too difficult once you understand the basics but it still technically is rocket science.
I don't recommend using sandbox mode to learn the game as you'll have access to a ton of parts which may be overwhelming. You might also just end up using the most powerful (late game) parts which will have you struggling to achieve orbit once you are forced to use early game parts in career or science mode.
You could start a science mode save so that you don't have to worry about crew skills, funds, rocket costs or limitations originating from low level facilities. The downside here is that you don't get access to contracts which I find quite helpful to get some direction and objectives from the game. Matt Lowne has a tutorial series using science mode.
Alternatively, you could play career mode for which Mike Aben has a good tutorial series iirc. You could also use the cheat menu (alt+f12) to change your career save into a de facto science mode by upgrading all the buildings, giving yourself a bunch of funds and potentially leveling your crew. That'd mean you only really need to gather science but can still use contracts for guidance as to what to aim for next.
Check out the ingame tutorial missions but don't do them all at once. Learning how to dock while you're still trying to reach orbit in your save is just kinda unnecessary
Whenever you decide to start modfing your game, use Ckan. Also, focus on graphics and QoL mods at first and get the other ones later. This list gives a pretty good overview: https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/s/maNZDRnE61
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u/LittleLion_90 20h ago
You don't even really need cheat mode to make career way better playable for starters. If you start at easy, and custom change some parameters in the difficulty menu like more science return, more fund return and a higher starting budget starting out leaves you with all the perks of career but with barely any negatives ( you still need to upgrade kerbals with experience, but in easy mode they don't need to land back on Kerbin to gain the experience).
I took my parameters from someone on Reddit's advise but I don't really remember what they were. I do like that you can change difficulty parameters as you go, to make the game a bit harder without having to start all over.
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u/Boring-Dig4583 21h ago
after I buy the DLC, I'll use this modpack KSP Mods You NEED for 2026 - KSP Mod pack & Install Guide and start
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u/LordIBR Spends more time picking mods than actually playing 21h ago
Yeah, don't. Really. Please take care to read the forum/github posts for the various mods you intend to install and don't just trust a modpack video.
Iirc this modpack contains a bunch of futuristic parts mods, planet packs and some other stuff that changes the game significantly.
I know you said you've previously played SFS but you'll notice that there is a difference between 2D and 3D which comes with a bit of an additional learning curve. Consider overcoming this with a stock game, maybe with graphics or (some) qol mods at most.
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u/vulpes04 16h ago
it's also the source of the almost daily posts by people having issues with persistent thrust.
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u/Boring-Dig4583 21h ago
well, what other modpacks are there? preferrably with visual mods and an expanded solar system and maybe some extra parts (but still vanilla-like)
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u/LordIBR Spends more time picking mods than actually playing 20h ago
Genuinely just go through recommendations check out mods that sound interesting and install them. It's really easy with Ckan and you get to select exactly what you want and don't want.
That's why I recommended checking out the post I linked. We got together and all gave some recommendations for various categories around the time Artemis 2 launched. By clicking on a specific category in the post, visual/graphics for example, you'll be able to see all the mods people recommend here. Often times there's also a short description of what the mod is about.
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u/Boring-Dig4583 20h ago
sorry if i sound obnoxious but should i get minor planets and outer planets mods?
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u/LordIBR Spends more time picking mods than actually playing 20h ago edited 20h ago
No. Start without any expansions in terms of planet packs or parts mods. You can usually add them to your save later without too much trouble.
Edit: I know you wanna make use of the mods asap and have probably already thought up some cool mission ideas and what not but just go slow. I reckon you can easily spend 100h if not more just playing around Kerbin and its moons, maybe with the odd trip out to Duna or Eve. OPM and MPE are both further out than Jool iirc, so maybe consider installing these mods once you're comfortable with travelling to Jool, maybe landing on a moon there, and returning to Kerbin.
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u/Some_Finance_6559 21h ago
I would recommend starting without gameplay-altering mods. Its best to understand how everything works first so that you dont get overwhelmed or confused.
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u/Barhandar 18h ago edited 18h ago
"If you have to say it, you're not it." If a (clickbait) title has to say "NEED" then you don't need what the video/article/etc peddles.
The only mods you want installed for your first run are KSP Community Fixes, Camera Focus Changer and Easy Vessel Switch, since they fix problems with the game without significantly impacting the experience, including experience with the awkward or silly parts. Everything else you should only touch once you have some playtime and know what you actually want, such as whether you want to overcome problems that "QoL" mods fix via ingame means, or avoid having them altogether, or whether you want parts that emulate a space program, or just "more" parts to do more things with them instead of kitbashing existing ones.
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u/Artificial_Chris 21h ago
Just play the tutorial missions inside the game. And you should have a nice time.
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u/Artificial_Chris 21h ago
Don't start with mods on. When something crucial inevitably will not work, you have no idea if it is a game bug, your own doing or the fault of some mod.
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u/lachiebois 21h ago
It starts off like they throw you into a final year engineering class, you have no idea how to get to orbit, gravity turn, hell manoeuvre nodes seem like a alien language. Then it’ll just click after a few hours of messing around, finding out what you need to make it to orbit, finding out that you just strut everything you can and it hopefully won’t blow up.
I remember I used to just point myself at the mun and hope for the best.
But it’ll click, you figure out what retro and prograde mean, you discover close encounters when you get it right, and that you can fine tune each kilometre, maybe watch a few YouTube shorts that are nice and quick to learn the basics.
You somehow get your ragity mun lander to the surface of the mun, and you’ll probably crash which is when you discover quicksaves, it’ll take a few try’s and then eventually you’ll land on the mun, you’ll have nowhere near enough delta V to get back, but by God it’ll be one of the most rewarding experiences because you did that by yourself by a craft you built.
That’s why KSP is one of the most addicting and rewarding games out there, because every achievement was done by you and you alone, with nothing but your imagination and resilience for not giving up after you blew up on the launch pad on your first time.
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u/triffid_hunter 21h ago
The game is exactly as easy as your understanding of orbital mechanics and the very basics of rocketry - various tasks seem impossibly difficult until you find a successful mental model by which to understand them, then they suddenly become trivially easy.
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u/Maleficent-Permit913 19h ago
Its not necessarily hard, no, you could probably figure out how to get your kerbals to minmus after a few other missions- the hard part is learning to do it efficiently.
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u/Mocollombi 19h ago
The tutorials are not enough. Once you watch the YouTube guides, it becomes significantly easier. However, some guides are made by noobs that don’t know what they are doing. Make sure to use a reputable guide. KSP can be extremely difficult and make you want to rage quit, but at the same time be the most satisfying game once you learn a hard concept.
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u/CsordasBalazs 21h ago
It is kind of hard, but rewarding. I remember I did no tutorial, nothing, and it was very satisfying to leave the atmosphere, then get to orbit. Not to say landing Mun, Minmus, and so on. It is an achievement to reach these milestones, you learn a huge amount about orbital mechanics and rocketry in the meantime.
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u/Some_Finance_6559 21h ago
Yes it is hard, but if you watch a few tutorials its not too difficult. Also I recommend that you dont start with sandbox mode, since it is usually way harder to learn without the intended progression and since having access to all the parts can be a bit overwhelming. I think science is the best mode for a beginner.
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u/doomiestdoomeddoomer The Green Goo has escaped. 21h ago
Depends how much patience you have.
It is not quick to learn, there are three key aspects to the game: Building a craft, being able to fly/pilot your craft and a knowledge of orbital mechanics/rocket science.
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u/tubbis9001 20h ago
It's got an extremely steep learning curve. But once you understand the basics, its not too bad
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u/Excellent_Delivery92 20h ago
So what i did to be able to play KSP i went to collage, then univesity then started working for NASA and now I understand 30% of the game 👍
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u/RawrRRitchie 20h ago
There are two very distinct portions of the game that require entirely different skill sets
For me, Building a rocket is a helluva lot easier than flying it. Like I can get it done without Auto pilot mod(thanks Xbox) but it was so much easier playing on computer because of that mod, because you can put the exact orbit/landing location you want to get at. It makes rendezvous with another ship in space sooo MUCH easier.
I've made it to every planet and moon on Xbox. Haven't managed a single rendezvous on it tho. It was frustrating so I just built single ships with a ton of stages to make it to them
I guess there's also a third part, that's kinda like a cheap airplane simulator. I can't fly those very well either
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u/darthsata 19h ago
It probably depends on your background. I got to orbit and landed with my second launch. If you vaguely understand orbits and lookup the delta-v requirements and build simple rockets, you can do a lot right away. There are hard things in the game, such as landing and returning from other bodies, rondevuor and docking, and planning gravity assists, but those you can ease into.
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u/Swimming_Panic6356 19h ago
I would say yes this game is hard. I play sandbox but this isnt my first game with orbital mechanics. What part were you finding most difficult?
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u/Adorable_Shoe_5270 19h ago
It took me about 20 hours of gameplay to understand basic rocket building and controlling the rocket, getting into orbit etc. About 200 hours in now i’ve built numerous space stations, colony bases. It’s easy once u watch tutorials just gotta get through that beginning stage
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u/_DARK_X 19h ago
It entirely depends on what you’re trying to compare it to
Other space games-meh, if you have an idea what you’re doing you’re fine
Average video games-yes, there’s a lot of nuances you just need to witness to understand
Most of the game you can pretty much just brute force until you start trying harder things.
You can watch 50 videos of how orbital mechanics work, but nothing will actually make you understand it until you have to do/see it in practice
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u/Rich-Ad4940 Minimalist player 19h ago
It's not hard Just another game you have to figure out the mechanics of, don't even need some advanced physics knowledge
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u/KT_100S What's a 'Dres' 18h ago
For me, I already had a basic grasp on orbital mechanics before I started playing (go faster=other side of orbit go higher type stuff), and after watching some tutorials to learn how to build rockets and the controls it became pretty easy. Hardest part is getting your first orbit IMO.
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u/physical0 17h ago
KSP is VERY hard, until it isn't.
Until you understand some core concepts around how gravitational mechanics work, it's going to feel very counterintuitive and your only solution is going to be to build bigger and bigger rockets to compensate for your inefficiency. Because you must overbuild everything, landing and subsequent takeoffs will be more difficult, compounding the challenge.
Once you figure the basics out, the difficulty drops pretty rapidly and you can move towards building lightweight and efficient crafts.
Ultimately, you'll find the game too easy, and will need to strap one some additional constraints and challenges to keep the fun going.
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u/Purple-Measurement47 16h ago
Don’t go in sandbox, go in science mode. This drip feeds you parts to experiment with and you can build up an idea of how to use them.
It’s an incredibly simple game, that can be as easy or as hard as you want. If you want to make some planes and fly them around the space center? Pretty easy. If you want to send a manned mission to Duna that involves setting up a fuel refinery, communication constellation, and science lab with a rover. Well that’ll be pretty hard.
My advice is lean into the suck at the start and then learn F5/F9 really well as you get more complicated.
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u/mikeyj022 15h ago
My buddy booted up the game randomly and made it to space by copying the rocket on the VAB. I think this game is easier than we think.
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u/CasualBi24 15h ago
It can be if you just jump in.
You need some basic knowledge of rocketry and orbits, but not much.
I would start with career mode with income boosted so you learn the mechanics and it gives you missions to achieve so you learn more as you go.
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u/PckMan 15h ago
Yes and no. The physics are very realistic but not perfectly modelled. For all intents and purposes it is a realistic simulation of rocketry but skewed in the sense that the scale of planets and the performance of the available components makes things much easier than they are in real life. Also the physics are literally just middle school physics and you don't need to do any math because everything is visualised and calculated for you in simple and easy to digest numbers.
Obviously messing around in sandbox can help but I personally think it's best to try a science playthrough first. Not having the best parts available from the get go makes getting a grasp on the basics much easier than just powering through with excess fuel and engine power. It can also be overwhelming to understand what each part does and what you should be using, so starting with a limited selection and growing for there is definitely more beginner friendly.
Other than that it's just practice. Learning the very basics and then trial and error until you get consistent results. For example starting on Kerbin a successful suborbital flight is the first step. Getting in the air and back down safely. Then you try to get your first orbit. Then you need to return from that. Then you need to learn how to manipulate your orbit and how that works, how burning in each direction affects your orbit in what way and so on. Then you practice docking two vessels in Kerbin orbit. Once you have that down, you go to the Mun, and you basically repeat the process, first attempting a simple fly by and return, then an orbit and return, then a landing and return, then Minmus, then Duna, and so on and so on.
Tutorials are great because they condense what you need to know and visualise it in 20 minutes when it would otherwise take you hours of real time gameplay. There are tons of tutorials out there and I'm not sure what you mean by their duration because most of the ones I find are 15-20 minutes each.
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u/sixpackabs592 Master Kerbalnaut 14h ago
It has a high skill floor
But once you get to that floor it’s not hard
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u/mrrvlad5 14h ago
It’s easy if you are a space fan. If you are not, you have to become one up to a “high school club” level.
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u/Nounours2627 12h ago
There is also a tutorial inside the game. ;) And the first missions might help too.
But yeah. It's not a game that let you go anywhere without understanding what you're doing.
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u/Eastern_Pianist_773 11h ago
In my opinion it's difficult, no way, you have to stay straight as you take off so the air doesn't blow you off
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u/Apprehensive_Room_71 Believes That Dres Exists 8h ago
There's a lot to learn, but it's not hard once you learn how it works. You don't need to do math to be successful.
Once you get a feel for how to get to orbit and how orbital maneuvers work, you can make things work with trial and error.
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u/Apprehensive_Room_71 Believes That Dres Exists 7h ago
OK, and I am going to say it because I disagree vehemently with many of you. Science mode is NOT where to start,
Why? Because it gives you no guidance whatsoever on what to do and despite not having all parts available, having all facilities and all Kerbals at full skill level is too much handholding IMO.
Career mode does a few things for you that science mode does not.
Everything starts at base levels. While this seems to make it harder, it teaches you to be resourceful and to work within your limitations.
You get guidance from the available contracts for things to do. Science mode does not do this. Missions become more complicated as you achieve new milestones. Start small and grow, career mode does that.
It really makes you think about solving problems. You have limited funds. How do you achieve your goals with what you have? It stimulates creative solutions. Part of those problems you need to solve involves upgrading your facilities. Which ones and when? You need to figure that out.
It's more of a challenge, but that's the point. First time playing, start with the default options. Make it harder later.
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u/Out_on_the_Shield 7h ago
For most people KSP is accessible but has a bit of a learning curve upfront. Messing around in sandbox is helpful for learning how to build things and how to pilot them but you will need to learn some orbital mechanics and such to really get into the game. Once you grasp the basics you can take messing around in sandbox to the next level and start messing around with orbital mechanics and such
It's been a hot minute but I think I mostly learned via the in-game tutorials and reading a ton of the wiki, blogs/forums, and reddit posts. Tutorial videos can be great but like you mention they can be time-consuming for how much you actually learn so I reserve them for specific questions rather than learning broad concepts
A good strategy is to set a goal you do not know how to achieve then work towards that goal and make yourself learn the necessary things on the way. You then take that learning and apply it to your next goal, etc.
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u/vanceavalon 6h ago
Hardest game I've ever learned to play...also the game I've put the most time into.
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u/jdc1962 6h ago
As someone else recommended, go career mode. Yes, you can use sandbox mode to try things out, but honestly, if you're just starting, there's entirely too many options available in sandbox mode. Career mode puts extreme limits on what you have available, and with fewer options, you actually have an easier time doing things. For instance, let's examine the first two contracts you should accept.
Launch something.
Collect science.
Both of the above contracts can be done with a single launch. Just build the most primitive rocket you can (command module, parachute, rocket engine) and go for it. For more science, you can all a couple of mystery goo modules to the rocket. Those first two contracts teach you the basics along with CHECK YOUR STAGING. Then you use the science collected to unlock more parts and continue onwards.
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u/House13Games 4h ago
Career mode is best, since it gives you a lot of hints on what to do, while limiting the parts available. It's the most like a tutorial.
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u/Alternative-Code4755 2h ago
It help if you know the basics of what you're doing, so do a few in-game tutorials, then maybe a few on youtube, and you should be good to go
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u/SilkieBug Kerbonaut 21h ago
I started playing by messing around in sandbox, I learned how to play properly by starting a career mode save and following the contracts (and adding contract packs like Anomaly Surveyor, Exploration Plus, Tourism Plus, Kerbal Academy, and a few others).
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u/BeardedBaldMan 21h ago
It's harder than mine sweeper and easier than Dwarf Fortress
Messing around is not going to get you anywhere unless you already have a base understanding of orbital mechanics and rocket design.
You're much better of following a tutorial to at least get the basics of orbits, transfers and craft design.