Well, of course there's a bit of combat too - if you haven't seen any of that, you're playing a very different game than I did!

But initially, yes, this is what you are trying to do - you are trying to build up your strength for when the @!$ hits the fan. Of course, you should already have been told about some particular, interesting locations by your contact on the station, which you should carefully investigate. The map is huge, and you won't be exploring it all blindly - you must pay attention to the clues you are given.

Especially since the galaxy is huge and the game has a deadline, so the "go to syxtem X, collect, return to base" has to be balanced with the time it consumes.

Well, if you visit Commander Hayes he will give you reports on various events occurring.

Basically, pay attention to what people tell you and the plot will advance itself - so long as you follow their direction or suggestions.

Make sure you trade for information from the Melnorme, a lot of it may seem pointless, but it actually turns out to be plot relevant and useful. Take notes.

Of course, you could always ignore the dialogue and stick with your dot collecting :) personally, I actually enjoy the dot collecting, it's relaxing intermingled with frustration when you take a change on a hostile planet and lose :P

Haha I was thinking 'blob collecting simulator' after playing this, and then I see this thread.

Oh, it does evolve from dot collecting. Once you get a bit of info, it becomes dot collecting AND slow fetch missons!

This is basically Starfight, I expect they're made by the same people or one is just a rip-off of the other - control your ship into different star systems, land on planets, collect resources, random portals, get a plot mission at some point, suddenly get chased by ships while travelling, get obliterated.

They even share that the PC version being inferior to the console version. On 3DO the graphics are nicer and you can hear the characters talking, and the music doesn't bleed the ears.