Most of Transcendence involves you flying around hunting for pirates. when you find them you kill them, take their ships or space stations that are still intact, and you dock with it to salvage cargo or equipment. Anything you find that you can carry on your ship is yours, and you may sell it at a friendly space station. The money you make is yours to invest in new weapons, devices, or ships. You can do different missions like escorting to earn extra cash. There are a lot of upgrades you can spend the money on so be on yor way and get to it.