I haven't played in aaaaaaages.
It was fun, but once you got a proper set of gear... Boring as shit.
Do npcs and bases exist yet? I couldn't only stomach playing if there's something to do beside wander randomly.
There's a relatively simple faction system now. NPCs (if you turned them on) can be part of one of the factions. The Old Guard (Military and government holdouts), Free Merchants (People who called dibs on refugee stations) and the Tacoma Commune (Their offshoot faction that doesn't actually exist until you do some jobs for the merchants), Hell's Raiders (Basically bandits, end of the world after all) and the Wasteland Scavengers (Everyone else). You are part of your own faction, but you are effectively just another wanderer unless you piss another faction off or start recruiting.
If you want to find a friendly base of sorts, turn on static NPCs and then interact with the glowing console in the corner of the evac shelter. One of the options will map a (somewhat convoluted) path to the nearest refugee station. Try to find the doors instead of smashing your way in, because there's a quarantined zone inside that you might not want to end up in if you just made a beeline to the station with a fresh character. Some of the people there have jobs for you, and the traders might have something you could use. Most of them are pretty poorly armed so you can start trouble if you really want, but at those well-lit, indoor ranges, a .22 round is almost guaranteed to get multiple consecutive head-shots and the trader might have something considerably more lethal in stock.
There's plenty more to the world, but if you don't feel like exploring, you won't be interested in the mega stores, malls or the vault.