u/Jazzlike-Hurry-2530

Came back to the game after taking a break because I didn't know what to do next. Turns out I'm dumb and I just needed to craft a lim shield. Okay so I need thermosap crystals, cool. I go to the scorched and eventually run out of battery, sucks but that's my fault for not preparing as well as I could have. So I get ready for the next drive out and made sure I was fully equipped. I get all my thermosaps and a bunch of other loot as well as every anchor I can get my hands on. The area I'm in says there are 3 exit gateways, I wait for them to open cause I'm ready to leave and nothing, so I exit to the next area which also says multiple gateways to exit from. Still nothing, I waited and waited until the storm was closing in so I head on past where I wanted, and dead end. 5 hours down the drain, I'm playing on normal by the way. Am I just dumb or something? I thought I had planning the routes, stable/unstable energy, and exit gateways figured out. I really want to play, enjoy and finish this game but wow after this I think I'm over it.