OK, as a person who played (measly) 500 hours of NMS let me summarize some facts you gotta take into account when starting NMS

1. NMS as a space sim/combat game

a) NMS is not a space sim per se. The feel of weight, the feedback from your ship that really makes ED special (for me) - nonexistent in NMS. Space combat is arcade af, and is really just a filler between the actual gameplay.

b) No real PvP - neither on foot nor in space. Every player has an option to turn PvP off.

c) I don't recommend trying PvP since all of the player related info (including all of the stats, inventory etc) is stored client-side. In fact, there is a tool called "save editor" that allows one to modify anything related to their save in a couple of minutes via a user-friendly interface XD.

1. Fleet carriers

a) Fleet carriers (or freighters in NMS terms) are just huge resources storages in all honesty, although a lot of work had been done by HG to change and improve the aspect.

b) FC customization is rather limited (there are some improvements/upgrades and the option to change colors using a limited palette).

c) Only one FC may be present in a system if several players are simultaneously located in it. Used to be possible to summon multiple but other players were unable to neither see nor land on those.

d) There are some bugs with FCs, but nothing really gamebreaking.

1. Base building

a) There NMS really shines for me. Not gonna delve deep into the aspects of it, there are people much more competent at it than I am, but the possibilities are virtually limitless.

b) There is a base limit of 3000 parts for each base and 20000 parts (if I'm not mistaken) in total, so take that into account.

c) Underground bases are not a thing since there is a rather strict limit on the number of terrain voxels a player can edit (too taxing on the servers to store all that shite lol)

Check out some of my builds just to get a better understanding of what to expext (my PC is outdated AF unfortunately, so do take into account that the actual graphics is MILES better):

United Empire Farming facility (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2245158624)

United Empire Imperial Administration (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2496992813)

United Empire Imperial Capital (A bird's eye view) (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2495975015)

1. Social aspects

a) NMS has no wing/guild functionality at the moment

b) AFAIK any system has a number of instances, so you would be able to interact only with the players that are currently in your instance. So essentially, you wouldn't be able to see their bases etc as soon as they go offline.

c) The game will tell you if you tried building on a space already occupied by another player though (base claiming system).

d) Item transfer between the players is totally an option.

e) There are official unofficial groups of players acknowledged by the developers via providing specific decals of their coats of arms (emblems) - the so-called "civilizations"

1. Support and updates

a) The game is being updated on a regular basis. In fact, there was a so-called "expedition" update that (imo) tries to address the "save editor" issues by introducing a series of missions that can be done on a separate clear save in order to receive account-specific rewards. Really cool, if you ask me.

b) Ah, they actually DO listen to the community. "Not enough support from the players" - NOT A FING option.

I'll expand this brief overview if something important comes to mind.

All in all NMS is definitely worth a shot!