I am no where good at the game, im just explaning what works best for me. also its still a WIP, just wait a few days.

First off you get a bunch of options: Continue, New, Load, Interface, Video, audio, Controls, and Quit.
Lets just look at NEW.



You will see there's quite a lot so far, but don't fear. First the pod name, lets just keep it with the default. (it only affects the save name.) next is the crew, you get their name and skills.



The Green skill is stamina, it affects the movement speed of the crew member. The red is their Health, it affects how long they can starve or get shot without getting killed. next the Orange one is Engineering, it affects how fast they (de)construct. The blue one is intelligence, it determine their IQ, they use it to research, grow food, and do smart operations. The final one (grey) is their combat skill, used for combat operations.

There's just a few things you need to consider for an easy start, that is Engineering and intelligence. Here's what you need to look for;

One crew with 3 Engineering



and one with 3 Intelligence skill points.



the rest can be whatever. Click Select New Crew till you get the desired crew.

there are three different ships to start with,

The Military Transport (easy)

The Mining Frigate (Medium)

and The Escape Pod (HARD)

Each ship is very different but the photos speak for them selves, the transport has guns and a lot of building room. the frigate as a mining laser but barely any room to build. and the escape pod has the basics and almost no room to expand.
I recommend to start with the transport until you reach a good understanding of the game, just with a few additions. than try your hand with the frigate. DON'T PLAY WITH THE ESCAPE POD UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. Just pick your ship and press START.

Welcome to Space. Don't freak out, you'll get your HUD soon. But first pause the game, its the two bar lines next to the arrows.



From there look to your right a little bit, you should see this:



click all of them to show your HUD.

The First element is the Plan Menu



This is where you'll plan buildings for your ship

Next is the Rolls menu



These are the rolls that crew can have, General cleans the ship.

Next is the Crew menu



This gives you a brief overview of your crew and their needs.

Next is the Player menu



This shows the Shield, Armor, Hull, and Heat of your ship

Next is the Cargo menu



This shows you how much Metal you have, Silicon you have Gold you have, Food you have, Water you have, and Money you have. it also shows how much stuff you can hold and the Energy you have, showing your reserve power, Used power and Available power. It also shows your computing power just like the Power.

Next is your Tasks



Ill also be showing your Notifications. Your tasks are what is planed to build. There's a total cost of resourses shown. Your Notifications are upcoming or active events including Incoming Ship, Astroid field ahead, and incoming Star.

Next is your components



This shows what active components are on your ship and there's a switch to turn them on or off, Green means ON and Red is OFF. The power and CPU draw is also shown.

Finally is the Color menu

The colormenu is where you change the color of your ship.


There's also a Menu button and center camera button.