Wow LostCommander. You put a lot of thought into that. Player owned stations and crafting are great ideas. I actually made a suggestion post about that a while back myself.

I hope all of that is coming. My idea is on a MUCH smaller scale. I'm not sure if the ideas conflict really but I'd be happy to see either implemented. Your idea seems like it'd be years in the future at the rate I perceive change occuring in VO. My idea seems do-able in a much shorter timeframe.

Something along these lines is what is going to take VO out of it's "work in progress" phase and into a more finished one.

Yes, because I have almost no life. And yes, much is coming. However, I think you would be terribly surprised at how relatively easily much of what I suggested could be done and how hard some of what you have suggested would be. 3D Artwork is HARD and very time consuming... :( Also, a lot of all suggestions end up running into needing additional UI functionality, and GUIs are hard and time consuming too... Blek. I've been learning both this summer and speak from experience; if anyone disagrees with the difficulty of either I would LOVE to know how it could be done easier!

Also, part of the "lack of speed" in updates and changes you may percieve is a lack of focus on the part of the Devs. They are doing much work, but not all on the same thing; and it all has to be rigorously tested once finished (at which point you find how it breaks -- it ALWAYS breaks and ALWAYS has bugs). I believe a lot more speed will be evident once the server-side and UI stuff the team is currently working on is complete.

I see what you're saying but wouldn't custom stations and crafting require new UI's and 3D artwork as well? I still see my idea as being easier.

I appreciate the devs and know they are doing a lot of hard work. Hopefully soon the game will advance to the point where it can be really advertised and money will start rolling in for them. Then maybe a lot of the things we've been hoping for will be implemeted.