I've done the stock career a few times but RP-1 is a different beast. Engines failing, no idea what to research first, and my first rocket barely left the pad. Any advice for the first few hours?
RP-1 is rough the first time, that's normal.
Install it through CKAN with the RP-1 express install if you didn't, a lot of early weirdness is a missing dependency. Then for the first hours forget orbit entirely. It's sounding rockets: small solid boosters plus a liquid upper stage, going up for altitude and downrange contracts. That's what pays for everything early.
On engine failures: a lot of early engines only have one ignition and need the fuel settled (ullage) before they light, so an upper stage that won't start is often that, not bad luck. Reliability also goes up the more you fly a given engine, so flying the same few engines a lot early is actually useful.
And read the getting started page on the RP-1 wiki, it's genuinely good.
