AGAIN, by definition if everyone has something it's not an advantage.
This is a very simplistic way to look at it. A large group which can have dozens of people offline testing has a time advantage due to internal information sharing that a small group cannot compete with. Solo and small group players take much longer to get the same information. This is the same in the live game world, of course, but while the solo and small group play the game, the large group can field people offline testing as well as playing the game, sharing that information. At the very least, if all those players are instead playing and testing in the live game environment, they are still subject to the same time constraints as everyone else, and are subject to the same economy. If the large group wants 100,000kv worth of material to test - because they have so many people testing - they don't get that for free. They have to go out and get it, or buy it from other players. They're part of the game as a whole. All their actions still impact all the other players.
since the design/building process for most ships will generally be solo projects
The scope of the game is much bigger than you are considering. Imagine entire sections of player stations for manufacturing all the parts and components for the ships. Imagine the assembly lines and robot arms putting these ships together. And the logistics and effort behind it all. The design will have to be agreed upon by everyone involved as to which one they want to mass produce. You're thinking in terms suited for a small, server-based game. Not an MMO with conquest being a main driver for large groups to proliferate.
I find it odd that so many people think ship building is going to be the selling point for the game. It will not be. If you want to build ships, you are an extreme minority of the gaming population. There's a larger, but still small, population of players who will even want to fly those ships. Where most players will just want to run around and FPS shoot at enemies. The easiest game mode will be the most popular (and is the most popular) - FPS combat. You can confirm this through the current gaming market. Find any other game which allows you to build a space ship, and see how popular it is. There are very few games which have succeeded in this regard.
I urge you to look at the bigger picture, where the time and effort you spend in game to make a good ship will be rewarded by the vast amount of other players who do not want to build ships who will then buy your ship, because it appeals to them. If they can all dip offline to design their own ship easily, then they have no need for your services in game, and you have no need to try out different materials and parts by purchasing those from the market - materials and parts other players want to sell. Try to consider the broader economy and reliance on other players that comes from keeping it all in the live game world.
speeding up ship design time could conceivably increase the total amount of community interaction that occurs.
If you can provide an example of this, please explain. I do not see a speedy ship design time increasing community interaction being the case in any situation.
For example, if you eliminate all the need for material testing, material loss through trial and error, fuel consumption and thus fuel purchasing from the market, a random passerby who sees your design, asteroid mining - and the lack of an asteroid being there the next time someone passes that area, so on and so forth, there are thousands of interlinked actions by players which come together to form an MMO experience. If instead, all that is gutted, because you've perfected the design offline, and only require the perfect materials for your ship, and never spend fuel from the live game to flight test and so on, there's no way this somehow increases interaction. Keep in mind, ship building is going to be one of the least exciting things for people to do in the game. You only hear a lot about ship building in these currently hollow forums because people who are excited about it have little other games to satisfy their urge, where all the FPS gamers who will enjoy Starbase have a dozen different games to satisfy their time right now and cannot be bothered to pay attention to another FPS shooter with 20 different weapons (Starbase) yet, until it becomes a reality. You don't hear from that crowd much, but they are a much bigger crowd.
The asteroid example came as a quick thought; I'd like to expand on it. The asteroid you mine out, that used to be there, in a weird way impacts every other player who passes through where that asteroid used to be. Because you mined it, it is no longer there, and as such, you've had a permanent impact on the game world and upon thousands of players' game experience. Just by that object not being there any more. And that doesn't take into account how those materials might hit the market, be purchased by someone or many someones; some using that material to make weapons, which make their way into a large faction war, others using that material to make a YOLOL chip to program on, and others using that material to put together an engine for their next ship design. In no way is being offline creating more interaction than that.
With that, I'll leave the thread. Good chat.
