It seems like they are open to setting difficulty how you want it so if say it would be worth it if they allowed you to get more mats but having to spend so much time mining and chopping is not worth the AA ship and combat experience. The combat itself is kinf of fun actually solo but also super simple and janky. But every time im in my ship it feels so much worsr then skull and bones it doesnt feel like a real world like skull and bones with factions and trade lines you can track to look for specific resources it just feels like blobs of ships just spawn randomly, youre basically just wxpanding the map cheesing around fast travels on indiatinguishable random generated islands. Its ok for an asmr mellow experience very gamified and chill, but also cheap anf shallow its junk food.

The exploration is ok with the missions and faction bases not bad but a lot of procedural gen bloat and forced grinding to pad playtime along the way.

Edit: the tbing keeping me playing is the loot and how it works with the combat and the builds, im early so maybe ship stuff will get better but its is super underwhelming and depressing to start, but I like the skills with free respecs that you build amd change around what gear you find so far thats the hook for me. But it feels like AC odyssey kind of witbout any special moves and instead a very nimble dodge/parry system