Astrophotography depends more on planning than any other genre here, since the sky itself only cooperates on specific nights, in specific places.
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Astrophotography Checklist (Printable): What to Prepare Before a Night Sky Shoot
Prints on its own, black on white, with a tick box for every line.
Moon phase is usually the first thing that decides whether a night is even worth attempting: a bright moon washes out the fainter parts of the sky you're trying to capture, so checking the lunar calendar in advance matters as much as checking the weather. Light pollution is the second major constraint — a dark-sky location, or at least one facing away from a nearby city, makes a bigger difference than almost any camera setting.
On the gear side, a sturdy tripod and a fast, wide-aperture lens are close to mandatory, and manual focus needs to be nailed using live view on a bright star before the real shooting starts — autofocus generally can't lock onto the night sky reliably. Knowing your camera's practical high-ISO limit in advance saves time that would otherwise go to trial and error in the dark.
None of this is complicated once it's planned, but skipping the planning stage — moon phase, location, manual focus technique — is what turns a potentially great night into a wasted trip.