Starting a new playthru from scratch.

Hello guys! So, just discovered this game deep in the recesses of a Steam search, and it looks really cool! A quick look shows that this game has quite the cult following, i.e. a bunch of mods, different things and forums regarding the game and stuff like that. Very cool! So I want to get into that a bit but first I have a question. Why isn't my mouse controlling the starting ship?? o_O The only way I can get the view to move is to set to 'keyboard only' controls and use the numpad, which I DON'T want to ...

So I've got this game in a genuine copy already which sits on my bookshelf, and has two discs. I decided to buy it again on steam, so I dont have to bother with discs (although thankfully I've bought an external DVD drive back then).. Now I'm getting this popup, in 21th century in 2023, for a STEAM game, to INSERT PLAY DISC?! What the actual hell? I'm so gonna buy the 3rd copy now on GOG aswell.. I bet it works there out of the box...

it has been years since i played this. and i seen it on sell had to grab it up. go to play it and there is no single player. it also ask for a disk at the start of the game ? hit cancel and watch video and then nothing but lan line game play ?

I don't understand how this isn't on my radar after countless related google deep dives over the years. Is this cult classic type material that everybody interested in the related genres should look into, or is it something that requires childhood nostalgia to enjoy now that we are in the future? Is there a storyline/narrative/lore to explore? If its something that should be checked out, what unofficial patches or enhancement mods should be applied that wont affect any existing narrative while keeping wi...