I had a blast starting out and discovering new materials and what I could do with them, upgrading my ship and guns, building bases, etc. I hit a wall when I unlocked most of what I wanted and was just logging on every few hours to check my settlement and send my fleet out. The quests are repetitive, exploring planets isn't really exciting, and the combat system is honestly not great. There's like 2 viable weapon attachments and the only hostile things are critters and robots, the latter of which are basically the cops so the more you kill the more come to kick your ass so you either have to fight wave after wave or run for your life.
Oh and the planetary vehicles are pretty cool but I think you have to have them on your capital ship to use them elsewhere, but I don't have the upgraded drive to be able to actually take it to the places I would really like to have them. So I just move my ship around the surface instead, and that takes fuel just to launch it which is a hassle.
Yeah, fuck off MADD! Leave me abs my road sodas alone! /s