Why is there no manual to download? I also couldn't find one in the installation directory. And googling doesn't seem to help either, except to find wikis and strategy articles.

The manual was a kickstarter exclusive - it isn't available anywhere else (for now). That said - the game mechanics aren't that difficult and a lot of the fun comes from figuring things out as you go along. As they tell you when you start a game - dying is fun!

There' the in-game tutorial. It explains the basics. The rest of it you are supposed to figure out as you play.

You've probably already found this by googling, but this wiki contains detailed information on everything in the game, including everything you need to know about ships (and their systems, weapons and augmentations) and races: http://ftl.wikia.com/wiki/FTL:_Faster_Than_Light_Wiki

Just ignore the sectors/achievements/strategy parts if you don't want to spoil things for yourself. Which is kind of hard as every ship description has a strategy section plus it tells you what you get when you unlock things.

There are also a couple of useful threads here in this very forum for new players if you find the going a bit daunting.

OK thanks guys. The mechanics of playing the game do seem pretty straight forward. I'll start off flying blind and if I get frustrated then I'll try some of the many guides out there.