i'll give it a shot.
1: There was a discussion a while back and it was mainly confirmed that it will come out on PC for one would not be able to fully utilize and experience the game on console based platforms.
2:It seems like it will come out this year, however i'd like them not to rush the game, so they can pay attention to the finer details.
3: Personally i would not like to design my own ship as i feel the quality on authenticity should be left for developers to design ships as each and every ship will/should have very unique capabilities and one should not be able to transfer those abilities in a spam fashion towards any other mass produced, amateurish ships, otherwise it won't be unique and the wonder and wow factor of each ships unique abilities would be removed, the unique qualities of a ship then greatly degrades, i'd rather have the ships uniquely designed by the developers. Quality is preffered way above and over quantity.
4: I would hope they stick to only Primary and secondary weapons, that was enough in Star Control 2 and 3 and it would be just fine for SCO, clutter it up with too many systems will affect the gameplay, the unique kinds of weapons on the ships in sc2 and 3 made for interesting and exciting one on one battles. Star Control 2 and the melee section in 3 kept that well balanced winning factor in tact and that's how it should stay.
5: I would certainly hope we most definately run into planets they need to keep the physics real taking it out would firstly, make it unrealistic, secondly, would make the combat monotonous and unexciting. Star control 2 had brilliant physics, it was perfectly balanced, keeping you on your toes as you sweat it out in a fun challenging and exciting battle ! ! The roots for the successful physics in star control was mastered in the arcade age, applied and tweaked to perfection by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford for Star Control.
6: I'd rather opt for quality than quantity, again Star Control 2's ship had the quantity vs quality nailed, every ship was unique and had it's own individual strong and weak points, leaving for little improvement required although i feel some ships could've been slightly better but not by much to be concerned about, they really knew how to make a ship interesting, unique and exciting !
7: You are talking about the ships doing battle other than the precursor, making this too complicated again will influence the energy of the game, the precursor should definately have the option for upgrades as with starcon 2. i don't really see a need to upgrade smaller ships, they are already made by the aliens to the best of their abilities and serve their purpose rightfully within the bigger picture of the game, if it is made to change the battle ships it would leave an unfair advantage and unbalanced gameplay which would take away the fun factor.
It does feel long don't worry, we all can't wait for it to happen BUT i'd really rather wait 2 or 3 years than to get a rushed game to full production, look at how much time blizzard takes to make their games, there is a reason why the games they make is superior umongst other's in their league.
I agree it's going to crush No Man's Sky if they use the same principles that made star control 2 a great game, with new graphics, new ships, new story, new aliens, and a few welcome surprizes.
