When I first started the game I had some of the same feelings. everything seemed so slow, travel seemed like it took forever to get anywhere. Grinding for rep and credits to buy those ships I was so sure I needed for 'progression' felt like such a chore. Exploration felt pointless and endless with nothing to see or do but press a button once and hop back in that wormhole. Then one day, after some time away I had a talk with myself and reminded myself that I have to stop being mad at the game for what I thought it lacked but rather accept the game for what it is. I had been looking for a game completely different from all the other games I've played. Once I stopped being in a hurry, looked at what the game is and what I could do within it I realized I had found just that.
Jumping from one system to another light years away through that wormhole, slipstream,hyperspace(what ever catchy thing you want to call it) is a logical mode of space travel. I for one do not want the game to play itself for me. Now if you were to say that some mechanics still could use some more substance I'd agree:
examples-
Galactic interconnected trade market with a 'market connector' in game that displays fluctuating prices on commodities, locations of commodities ships modules, basically everything tradable, on a searchable database in game giving it all a feeling of a living vibrant market effected by player trade- I agree
I list of explored and discovered systems along with who found them on a searchable database in game with details on planets, resources, and POI locations- I'd agree
((I found that using trade computer extension and market connector does pretty much all of that I just described and allows me to search all data while still in game. I think those two elements should be the games mechanics anyway... but those simple addons really made the game more interesting to me. ))
an ability to manually decide the course of my flight path through navigation based On a course I choose as well as the 'autoplot' option- I'd agree
I took out the docking computer and realized how much more interesting it is to land on stations. I stopped racing to that billion credits and realized that it is enjoyable to run my shipping company and exploration expeditions at my own pace with my own goals in mind. I stopped nitpicking missions and started using my imagination to create stories around my gameplay, something I hadnt really done as much in other games over the years. I supplied my own plot, my own agenda, independent of any directed sequence of events...and I enjoyed it.
I used to mock the games constant "slow down" alerts, but once I 'slowed down' it all made more sense to me, became more interesting.
FTL travel is not even possible many physicists say - anyway this is all academic as ED is a game - only a game and fast travel in the game will not change what happens in 3300AD one way or another...
