A few thoughts.
"Immersion" matters:
Docking/Launching
The little shuttle is
fun. But the player should be
on it, not
looking down on it from the bridge of the ISD! And one should be on it when going back and docking with the ISD. It would be much more fun, too!
The Nuit station is still available:(
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Nuit_Space_Station_OXP has several links to it. The
only station allowing external docking (in theory...). Not only did my itsy-bitsy shuttle do it instead of the ISD each time I tried, but I could not find a single Nuit when I approached to dock with the real station orbitals. Yet when I left the station, they had been spontaneously generating while I was inside - and there could be several appearing from nowhere (like praying mantis's) which I then had to try and avoid on leaving the system.
Buying/Selling
Once can buy and sell horrendous amounts of stuff. This should not be done in just a couple of seconds as the stuff has to be ferried between the station and the ship. It should take time. And even longer with those piddling little Rock Hermits.
And outfitting in the Shipyard, ditto: bring the goodies over, although presumably the naval engineers can fit it during flight rather than all at once.
Maintenance
I've not flown it for long enough, but one would would presume that the naval engineers again can do almost all that is necessary on board during flight, or a stopover. Real Dockyard Maintenance would require something rather different than one of those piddling little Coriolis stations... Nor should it need repair bots. With 9,235 Officers, 27,850 Enlisted crew & 9,700 Stormtroopers, there should be enough screwdriver-wielders to sort out whatever needs fixing.
NPC Reactions
These should be rather spectacular, unless these things are three a penny. People should be utterly petrified when one looms into sight...
Reference: Nuit Station
