I definitely felt my lack of knowledge impacted my enjoyment. Characters suddenly showed up and were referring to events from parallel timelines/universes that I had little to no knowledge of.

As a noob Gundam fan, I can understand the sentiment. I’d be lost too if I did not watch the 1979 series.

On the bright side, it could have been worse. Glad you enjoy the space combat at least (but it’s quite a shame when considering that the main themes of Gundam - war is driven by politics, and war is bad - won’t be seen as the main focus to newcomers).