Oh yeah I should probably review this. Yes. Its good. Its one of the best space sims on the market that is in active development. Especially since 7.5 made the flying feel even better. Plus the mods are incredible and egosoft is very welcoming of them.

As for its DLC; I recommend them all but please be aware of the following; timelines is a troubled child. Don't sit and play it all in one go. Instead I recommend a new player does the following;
0. (Optional Step) Join the discord.
1. Play the basic tutorials.
2. Complete the 1st batch of Timelines.
3. Complete the Intermediate Tutorials.
4a. Play the open universe.
I recommend both of the Terran (Cradle of Humanity) starts, play Cadet until "Mission Command" demands to see you in person. Play Genesis until you build a dock on the HQ. This gives you a big taste of many small mechanics. Should you be without the dlc, try the Dedicated Warrior. The Perseus is a fine starting ship.
OR
4b. Play the 2nd batch of timelines.
5. Do the other as above.
6. Complete the tutorials.
7. Now decide if you continue your open universe, start a new open universe origin you like the sound of* (Accomplished Scientist is nice as a quickstart back to where you left of with the two terran starts but unaligned with the protectorate. Emergence is a solid pick with a driving goal.) or continue timelines.

Should you pick timelines, I highly recommend you dip out if you get frustrated twice in a row and come back to it later. Everything you unlock in timelines is added dynamically to a save in progress.

Its alittle odd to write a mini guide in a review but it cant be understated how much of a chonker of a game this is. And as someone who actually likes timelines but sees its flaws, I don't want anyone to spoil themselves from the real meat of the game, the open universe.

* https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2954241930 - This is a good guide to the game starts, however I don't want to overload someone with information,

I was wrong, I was very, very wrong.

I used to think I understood this game; I used to, in my early days of playing believing that this game was an;
Idler game, disguised as a empire building game, disguised as a space simulator.

It is none of these, though it will share MANY aspects and features of all of these.

This is a Plague Inc. Pandemic Simulator

You are a cancer, a growth on the galaxy, festering and growing. Every cycle that passes you dig deeper; sucking the galaxy dry of it's resources, supplanting the natural order of things with your trade. But there is no vaccine, no treatment; yours is a breed that cannot be cured, you'll consume and consume; your influence will spread across the entire galaxy. Not one sector will exist without a green blip.

The AI Hosts pay no mind to this cancer taking the natural and man-made resources, in-fact as you pay them to build ships, they'll pay you for the materials to those ships. But you'll keep growing, and growing.

Until eventually, you'll become self-sufficient. And as for the hosts? That is up to you.

This slow-burn 'space-sim' is a diamond among the rough of space games out there. With a steep learning curve but insane freedom. It truly can be played anyway, at any pace, for any reasons. For sure some ways earn faster credits than others, and there are main story missions based on chosen start, but all play through's valid, there is no one single way to play. But many do tend towards Empire Building, given the potential profits, but don't let that aspect scare you away.

This game is really cool and one of the best games on steam. Its pretty huge and pretty complex.
But the performance and the economy are big negatives. Your savefiles basically have a life expectancy until performance becomes unbearable because there are too many ships being spawned, this is regardless of your PC specs.
The economy also turns out to be very shallow as you get deeper into the game because there isn't really much of one. All factions have infinite money and its all just about stations running out of materials which the AI mines using different mechanics than the player to spawn ships. This is just one of many issues and bugs.
The story is also mostly a pain in the ass. Sometimes engaging lore-wise, but gameplay-wise always extremely tedious and just a pain in the ass.
Get all DLC except Timelines unless you really like these horrendous missions.
The stations look really cool from space, especially when you build them yourself from scratch. Unfortunately you can't visit any of it in person, aside from the dock. Essentially all stations are extremely small and empty from outside your ship, and all look the same.