Well, that's one of the main problems with sites like Wikipedia or YouTube. They just contain worlds...
Huge worlds.
Concerning the UE Kit. Mask is important at times but it is not necessary at open spaces like spaces were the wind is present as all of the bad stuff is usually... gone with the wind. Nonetheless, it is advisable to take hell of a lot of stuff just for safety reasons. And a partner is the most important.
I won't be elaborating much on that because as you said you were reading quite a lot of stuff so you probably read most of the major points
Have a nice day.