Ok, to start, in the game, there are three factions. Two of which are at WAR. There is no reason that they would all decide to give the newbies the same ship throughout all of space. What I'm trying to say is that the ship you start with should still be a piece of scrap metal that you can steer, but it should reflect the nation you start at a little more. For example: The Serco are a military people, while the UiT are traders. So, the starting ship for the Serco should be more combat oriented while the UiT starting ship should be capable of hauling slightly more cargo. Also, the different places should carry different types of ships to buy. For example: There is no logical reason that you'd be able to buy a Vulture, that has only two cargo slots, at a UiT base, but instead at an Itani base since they speacialize in fighters. I already know about the three ships that are available only to highly recognised players can get, but it would really add depth to the game if from the moment you started it was all about location, location, location.

Yes, faction specific differences are needed to improve the 'effect of reality' of the game. In general, it's not best that each nation provides essentially the same ship for starting pilots.

But this is ubiquitously known, probably for some time. I do believe this situation will improve in the future, after other significant game mechanisms are finished/fixed/better.

Yes, most likely (and hopefully) this will change in the future. Right now, the only noticeable differences between the nations are player-created (ok and maybe a few ships here and there - the prometheus, valkyrie, etc). I really think it would be a good idea to make each race more visually distinguisable as well. Nice suggestion, freedombird. I think the devs might already have it under plan, however.

I do not think it would be good to have the game too dependent on "location, location, location" because, by definition, a newbie selecting a location for the first time knows fairly little about the universe. True, you COULD research it before picking something, but most people do not and do not seem to want to (a lot like stock investing...).

Actually, there is a fairly good reason that everyone starts off with the exact same initial ship - a company (not a nation/faction) produces it and has undersold EVERYONE! :) I realize you probably know that already, but I happen to like the reason/excuse. However, I will give you that UIT stations ought to have trading/mining ships (cargo variants, Atlas) available at a lower license level (by 1) than everyone else, while Itani should have the same for fighters (Centurian, Vulture) and Serco should have for heavy attack ships (Ragnorok, Wraith).

LC, you're right that most gamers probably don't want to do a lot of research on something before they start a game. But there are a lot of games that have a much more intense storyline and diversity of characters than the current VO.

The point is: You don't have to know everything about Serco/Itani/UIT to start a character with that nation. Whats the fun of doing something if you already know everything about it?

I can see how everyone can start out with the same bus... it would make sense and all, but that's not to say that having players start out with nation-specific ships would be a bad idea. I don't think FreedomBird means that Itanis should start out with something that is completely designed for fighting and nothing else, and that UIT noob ships would only be for trading. He just says that the noob ships they offer would be geared towards the flavor of that nation. And also that the nation's general line of ships should also reflect their attitude of the universe. If you want to buy a warship from UIT, it would perhaps cost a bit more, and take a little longer to obtain than if you worked for Itani/Serco.
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On another note, however... if I had it my way, you wouldn't be able to choose a nation in the character select screen. You would start out neutral. You could maybe choose certain sectors to start out in, but a player would become Itani/Serco/UIT by increasing their reputation with them, or completing a certain mission for them. This would be much more flexible, and there would be a lot less confusion as to where a player's loyalties lie. Like pirates, for example. No more blues pirating blues. If you're a pirate, then you acquire their color designation. Or you could represent Axia or something... and some other corporation would try to impede your progress in helping Axia. Or, players could just stay neutral.

Simple answer to why the ships are all the same.

Very simple.

TPG Corp produces the hulls. Everyone else just jacks up the price and sells them to the public.

I agree with you 110% FreedomBird. I've been saying the same thing for a long time:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/6653
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/9913
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10996

Also, why is it so dang easy for me to build up all this hate from the Itani just because I'm killing bots? I never did anything to them, and, as a matter of fact, I've only left Pyronis once on a trade mission. It makes no sense that they'd hate me for just shoting bots and running goods around everywhere.

What bots are you killing, and where are you killing them? If you've spent all of your time in Pyronis, then anything you do shouldn't affect your Itani standing. Are you sure you're losing Itani standing? Serco characters do start off with "hated" standing with Itani.

If you're Serco/Itani the Itani/Serco hate you because you're Serco/Itani.
Easy as that. Good old-fashioned nationalism!

I've just been killing the collectors and some of the transports, and my level of dislike went up by around 20. Maybe I should report this as a glitch...

Yeah, that sounds wrong to me.