The missions are all optional.

Downside is a bit loaded of a word. Demphasizing one aspect will naturally emphasize others. So use your experience to develop the play style you most enjoy, and never look back.

Excellent, thanks. I was beginning to wonder if it was maybe a consequence of running Reforged Eden 2.

Originally posted by DMarkwick:

Excellent, thanks. I was beginning to wonder if it was maybe a consequence of running Reforged Eden 2.

OK, NOW I'm confused (like that is something new)...

Are you saying you are playing RE2, but want to ignore the quest scenarios?
I suppose that's "fine", but seems like you could also do that (and easier) in Vanilla.

As said, the storyline missions are optional.
As an alternative to building stuff you can initiate Faction missions which are a bit different, or explore the galaxy which will get you Token rewards that you can claim in the GIN console at important space stations. Or try to take-over one of the numerous pirate ships that you meet in the systems to enhance your own ship.
It's true that the more you play, the less important the survival aspect of the game will be because you usually have all resources you need at that point (or you can buy them easily). The new version 1.13 once fully released will give you the option to start on a difficult arid planet, you may want to check this one before playing RE2 which is a modded scenario that goes beyond the vanilla game.

Originally posted by DMarkwick:

Excellent, thanks. I was beginning to wonder if it was maybe a consequence of running Reforged Eden 2.

You really should mention if you're playing a custom scenario and which one otherwise everyone will just assume you're playing vanilla. RE2 is intended for experienced players and draws out the progression a lot more so if you do not enjoy slower progression then I'd recommend playing vanilla or another scenario.

Even in RE2 though all the missions are optional but you'll be missing out on a lot by completely ignoring all of them.

Originally posted by DMarkwick:

So I'm a new player, enjoying it for the most part, the progression from simple base toward spacecraft.

Today though, I played some quest thing, and I spent around 2 hours creeping around underground fighting scorpions & abominations etc. Playing a different game.

It was exactly the sort of gameplay I hate. Whereas the technology progression above ground is great. Question: can I simply ignore the quests or will I be playing half the game and can't make certain progressions? I don't want to pour too much time into it if I'm going the be nerfing myself.

In RE2 there is a lot of stuff to do that goes beyond dungeon crawls. Theres puzzles, trading, bounty hunting, building, exploring - Im having a lot of fun checking out exploration sites gathering data chips and schematics and processing and sellign them. Sometimes theres random quests to do like when I had to help a mining NPC crew mine a bunch of weird ore by a wormhole and then theres different quests given by different NPCs. Like most of the bartenders and merchants can have u do them a favor for payment, sometimes they have tidbits of info treasure hunting etc. Dungeon crawling and main story stuff is really optional and a smaller part of the bigger game universe

Originally posted by Ensign Toby:

OK, NOW I'm confused (like that is something new)...

Are you saying you are playing RE2, but want to ignore the quest scenarios?
I suppose that's "fine", but seems like you could also do that (and easier) in Vanilla.

I enabled RE2 immediately for a few reasons:
I had read that it was the generally agreed upon best single way to improve SE.
It had a slower progression, and that suits my playstyle.
It has pretty comprehensive rebalancing and other component improvements.
There are apparently quite a lot of gameplay elements added (like quests etc) which I now know I can accept or ignore :)

So I just went with it. I didn't want to learn vanilla then have to alter most of my conceptions for changed gameplay. I figured if I detected something "off" with the game I could disable RE2 and give it another shot. However I quite like the RE2 so far, so all's good.

The only one I'd say you definitely want to do is the Project Eden prologue to visit a UCH Research Vessel. That introduces you to some other mechanics in the scenario such as upgrading your warp range and unlocks some other missions.
Considering it takes less than 5 minutes.

Yes, you don't get locked into "main mission" work like what "corridor shooter" games have.

Even the main quests have "stopping points" where you can go off and do something else, and then come back later if you want to.

Most of the quests are like "side missions" but there are lots of them, and some have more then one mission in a series. But with "stopping points" after each "chapter".

There is also a way to "check off" a step if you can't get past it, see other threads if needed.

However, it is a good idea to avoid some "points of interest" (POI) because most places do have one or two extra hard ones, for players who have been there before... 8-}

It's both easier and much faster to progress through the game without ever entering a POI or doing any foot-combat at all. Running POIs and quests will actually stifle your progression through the game, the quests are more tutorial than they are any form of progression.

If progressing/advancing is your goal, you should ignore POIs ( structures run on foot ) and quests altogether.

You can come back to the quests after having defeated all or most of the games content, to enjoy the story/lore.