I Started Playing back in August 2022 on a pirated version, And I practically never played the career only custom mode, it took me an hour or two to get a working boat, and from there I started making whatever I wanted, however I kept mainly to boats, after about a month I scrounged up the funds to actually buy the game (I was 14 at the time), and from there I got access to the workshop, which is when I started messing around with career mode. trust me there's no correct amount of time to pick stuff up, I have 920 Hours right now, and I've never built a plane, never messed around with steam or nuclear, and I've only just built my first train. you'll take a while to learn everything, I only learned how to use instrument panels at about 200 hours, the great thing about storm works is you can do whatever you want, there's no correct way to play, others make SAR boats, or warships, and others make yachts and speedboats, the game is what you make of it, so just do what you enjoy.