It's trial and error. You can set the storyteller and difficulty way down if you want to get a feel for more basic building requirements. Get a feel for the different biomass you can play on and find which one you like the most.
Tips wise:
I always set up an 7x7 stockpile, and place four wooden beams around it when I first get started. Then roof over those four points so my items don't deteriorate. Critters will eat your food though. Be conservative with your materials and assign pawns tasks via the work menu.
Place sleeping spots, start a rice farm on the first or second day. Use the order menu in the architect tab to force harvest rice after 65% grown. Focus on collecting resources and building while your food supply grows.
Mine for granite and metal. Granite is resistant to fire among other things, and it's the strongest (most available) material to build walls with next to plastered. Research turrets as fast as you can.
If you keep getting a ZZZT event look for exposed batteries, and other hardware that needs to be roofed over like an electric smelter. Alternatively if you're on a biom with loads of trees, chop those suckeres down and store the wood in a huge warehouse to be used as fuel in generators. I've never gotten a surge when using generators.
Build defences like turrets and walls. Most pawns will fall into what's known as killboxes. As of A15-16 though AI known as 'sappers' and some other pawns will break walls down instead of getting trapped in kill box setups so don't rely on those designs entirely. Critters and mechanics will still fall victim to them.
Pawns that are raiding you will eventually leave. Build super thick walls of granite or limestone. After a few minutes they'll give up if they can't get to you. Usually around the 3rd or 4th block they say "fuck it let's bounce".
Grow smokeleaf, psychite, and cloth. Grow a little heal root if you have a colonist able to. Manufacture drugs. Lots and LOTS of drugs. Cocai... I mean yayo... Flake, smokeleaf joints, etc. Sell it to traders and buy neurotroamine to make medicine, wake-up.
Pay attention to your colonists needs and their qualities. Some colonists should be buried alive because they're so useless. Some are slow like fuck, and others like to set Shit on fire.