I guess it's possible to voluntarily create yourself a shitty experience, and a grind fest without any exploration, but why? Seeing as many planets as possible is the fun of the game. Progressing means getting toward the center. It's easier to explore and get the resources you need where they are plentiful instead of grinding them on an ordinary planet.
The +1 from ship upgrades is nothing compared to all the blueprints you need, and all the various rare resources you need to get all the max upgrades. Also if he supposedly maxed out his equipment, where the fuck did he get Omega blueprints and resources on the starting planet? This seems impossible. I don't think the starting planet can be filled with rare stuff. It's also much more time and effort than exploration. Using what each planet and system has to offer can only be faster and easier.
I only visited about 40 systems, so maybe 120 planets/moons, but I'm getting a better feel of which spectral class provides which resources. The nomenclature is similar to the real world spectral classes.
The O-class are always awesome, these are insanely massive stars. If you want to have fun, stop using any path and use "free mode" on the galaxy map, you can still progress toward the center manually, with your own waypoints. Find the classes you want by color. I am convinced the very rare elements are on the hottest motherfuckers, and they often come with extreme sentinel protection. I now alternate between O and M, the difference makes the game fun and the resources tend to be complementary.
I think there might be a link to sentinel firepower. It's the only places I met those big attack ships equipped with arrays of laser turrets, and waves of sentinel fighter squadrons, other places are usually at best a few bipedal sentinels (when the computer tells you elite forces deployed, etc...).
! The star was right next to me but nope, can't go there ....
