Started playing on Xbox when Next released, moved to the Switch version when that dropped. I probably have about 400 hours across both consoles.

I still get excited when a new update or expedition drops. Usually I'll end up putting in another 10-20 hours with every update, playing through the new content and exploring a few more star systems on my main save.

It's just nice to have a chill game to wonder around in, that's not forcing me to keep logging in every day to grind out missions. Even in expeditions there's usually loads of time to complete everything at a relaxed pace.

This is giving me strange vibes of Rover - the white ball from The Prisoner TV show from the 60s that used to chase the main character around!

Yeah, you are at the mercy of RNG a bit, similar to getting good X class upgrades on regular ships. I like that frigate missions allow you to grind these in the background, while doing other stuff though!

I reckon players have a type of ship they love and will stick by. There's probably a minority who swear by living ships (or solar ships, or interceptors, etc), but most just have one in the garage. I found it a nice chase for a while, but I'm back to my favourite fighter as my main ship!

Those are the only two ways I know of to get living ship upgrades! In my experience, my living frigates were returning with a psychonic egg (the item you dismantle into a living ship upgrade) after nearly every mission, so it didn't take much time to fully kit out the ship, but YMMV.