@ Akalabeth Angel,
Dude trust me, I'm not turned off by games that allow freedom of movement, but there has to be an overall driving goal, and although there was obviously one, it just seemed to be diluted by all the other things that crop up. The bird-race getting attacked, the bird race moving, the probes (which without the wiki were, as far as I could tell, untraceable, and I wrote down the origin coords of LOADS, along with
else), the periodically opening superhyperspace portals (I could never remember to keep track of the dates), and the rubbish combat (I know! More of a subgame than anything).
I think probably I just OD'd on resource collection and trying to explore every system early on. Maybe I was soon to breakthrough to enthrallment but as it is, it'll take a good bit to get me to continue on.