What am I even playing for?

Like, I'm just sat here going over the seemingly monumental tasks I need to do do unlock various engineers not even including the grinding for materials and I'm just thinking, why am I doing this? Like what's the point? There's no actual goal that even worth the effort. Engineering doesn't open up new awesome game mechanics to experience nor does it truly change the experience of the game. Its just an endless cycle of grinding just to upgrade in order to take that very same grinding a bit easier or the already rather boring tasks a little easier. There's no higher tier levels of combat in a way that is remarkably different from stock combat, there's no opened opportunities for exploring other than jump range, a new tier of mining or anything. All this effort does not change the way the universe/game is experienced. There's no real reward for your effort just that you do the already basic tasks a little easier or efficiently.

For such a seemingly vats game its very empty. Not a whole lot to actually do or look forward to. My enjoyment in this game is dwindling like no other.