I've probably asked this before, but what is the point / end goal in this game?
Or is it just about exploring?
There's a couple of main stories, which are interlinked and you can follow the story by carrying out particular missions. I don't think I actually finished them but I believe the final stage was reaching the centre of the galaxy. The stories are a little dull after a bit, and seem to require a lot of going back and forth between certain points.
Though you can ignore that and just explore, survive, trade, build, do side missions, find strangers at the space station to do co-op missions with, fly around looking for other ships and try to fight them, whatever you want.
I tend to go back to it when I want to play something where I don't have to think too much. It's visually very impressive, and there's something rather liberating about hopping in your ship and just leaving the planet.