Crash!!! Boom!!! Snap!!! Its all rocket parts flying. You would think rocket science is easy, especially if you played SimpleRockets. But now SimpleRockets2 has a third dimension and that there is the more complicated part. Being a 3D rocket game you have to manage a lot of aspects in the game. In Episode 1 we are going to talk about planning a design for a rocket. So strap on your belts, and if your rocket explodes, don't blame the black licorice from Andrew being an Alien and exploding your imploding rocket!

Part 1: Brainstorming an Idea/design
No matter what field of science you choose, or even math, there is always going to need to be a plan first. Formulating a plan is really important. I recommend to at least do planning correctly when doing complex designs that are intended to be a vessel in space and not in pieces on the ground, making you not throw out your device out the window cause rage.
-Step1: Always get a blueprint or visual representation of what you want to make! This is really important so you can make your builds be designed the way you want. If you are making replicas and want it to scale, assuming SR2 provides vessel information in the designer, go to a blueprint website. These are really good places to also find inspiration.

-Step2: If you know this design is going to be really complex, be patient, do researching if it is a replica, and if it's not a replica make sure to be patient and do NOT rush! Rushing only makes the build quality less as you go on.

-Step3: Assuming all the steps above are finished, the most important thing is to make sure the build is reasonable. In other words, if it has to let's say land on Venus, can it actually do that or is the design compromising the functionality. You have to balance both factors as building rockets functionally to get to places need the amount of correct Delta? (We Will learn that at Rocket Orbital Mechanics Episode) or it might need a certain amount of Specific Impulse to do something (Another factor to be learned later). So thinking critically is really important!

-Step4: Assuming you executed the earlier steps, now its time to give small sneak peeks to the community. Putting out images that Intrigue or makes the reader wonder about the capabilities of it can greatly be effective in making the design get a lot of attention when it is released. Basically putting "Teasers" in forums can build up excitement in the viewing community and so when many anticipate the release. Make the screenshots of the build not reveal too much information too. So best at an early stage before you build is to show drawings or blueprints.

So now that you have an understanding of what at least designing a COMPLEX vessel can be like, go along and let your imagination spew out and most importantly have FUN! Thanks for reading through and I have a good advice: Never Eat Andrews Black Licorice when building rockets, it just not good... :P
Thanks again! See you in the next episode! :D

-Saturn28
Former of SaturnV