Best way to play it mate, it's a huge game and so much to explore and take in before rushing the story, all the side quests and 1000 planets is going to take a lot of time, why rush it? ..same here, i loved the fallouts, skyrim etc, Bethesda make the best RPG's ...with the space travel i think some people are just fast travelling to planets instead of doing what you just said, kind of missing some of the game where they can bored and steal other ships and have other random encounters. i got a ship from doing the mantis side quest and when pirates see it they take off scared ...this games a 9/10 for me