Hmmmm.... just a thought that occurred to me in reading over the posts again. What would everyone think of ships, say specifically the capital ships that were, how should i say this... designable? I mean, not full blown you know redesign by the user, but lets say you have a carrier, okie? Now in this theoretical new version of the game, we get to decide "what kind of carrier it is" Like is it a fighter/bomber carrier and we strip the abilities to the bone? Or do we half and half it? Or do we get say... helicopters? I mean the space equivalent would be what? small transports that carry small arms weapons and personnel? I mean, we don't have people in the game yet, right? It would be nice to have people. I dont mean you know like characters, (But at some point that would be very very nice) but NPC's you know. Like the little marines in HW that used to go in and board craft or enemy ships. All they have to be is very small silouhettes (spelling?) Anyway, i'm getting away from the KIND of carrier. Maybe fighter/bomber, maybe Helio, maybe Missiles? Maybe Personnel, or Mines? Or ... hmmmm.... anyway i thought it might be interesting if we could like choose between these like listed options to load when we created the carrier.
The same could go for the other capitals as well, to list options for their builds. The list doesn't have to be exhaustive, maybe 3 or 4 of what the devs think are the best or a good range from one kind of craft to another.
The battleship and the colonyship and the support ships could also use this for different "types", In effect perhaps some could be more aggressive, and some more supportive, some could be a mix.
Anyway... just a thought.
Perhaps i can play around in the abilities and the ships and see if i can make up some different kinds. But it will be just a hacked mod, and not the real thing.
But it is worth a try. 
Take care and keep modding!!
-Teal