Lets say you just bought the game, entered the dock, and are going "what the ♥♥♥♥ am I looking at?"


Be honest. We all did.

Well let me help out. Bottom right is the button that grants you access to the item menu, bottom has the hotbar for saving items in (you grab the items from the item menu by holding LMB until said item sticks to your curser), top toolbar has various things, armor and module modes are on the top right.

First rule of making first ships or shipmaking for those starting out, don't push yourself to arbitrary part counts just because some turbonerd who hasn't showered in a while said so.



Take things as slowly or quickly as you feel okay with. Otherwise you will burn yourself out. Trust me. I've got first hand experience with this.

Step 1 - Figure out what you want to do.
Even if it's literally just "I want to do 'x' ", have a vague semblance of an idea. Ideally you would also have what specific traits you want to see also queue'd up in there, like what sort of armament it has, or what characteristics in terms of size, mobility, or shape is. The more you plan out a head of time, the better.

Or go full anarchy. That works.

Step 2 - Pace yourself accordingly.
I know this might sound a bit contradictory to the last step but if you can help it...do not start with detailed af replicas. Start with maybe...200 blocks max. Detailing is only as necessary as you want/need it to be.

Seriously, don't start with super-detailed capital ships. That's how one loses their will to keep playing the game. Or their sanity, whichever comes first. It is completely fine to have a hull with rather jagged edges, or a completely barren deck so long as you aren't stressing yourself out over something you do not care to add.