So I found Discovery back at 4.85. I was stumbled on it during a web browse after my uncle told me about the actual game itself. I was instantly interested and that is when i found Discovery. I played on 4.85 for about a year. I then had to step away due to joining the military but I have returned now that i have balanced out my work and personal life. I always found that player interaction made the game so much better. I also liked the major revamp Discovery did to the game with the addition of...well everything. how they added so much material to make the game so much more. Now that i have started playing again I have even started recruiting my friends to check the game out. I don't view Discovery to be a mod really I look at it and an expansion. with that being said I think that is what is needed to be done. Now i'm not talking about another huge production. I would compare it to what console games consider being a "map pack" but make it a ship pack. In my entire experience with numerous types of games nothing helps lure people into a game more than something new. Throw in a few new ships here and there and i know that people will be drooling. But ofcourse you can't just throw in any kind of new ships make them unique and lets say "shiny" and once retired players here about them you know that the thought going through their mind is going to be " I gotta try that out" that and the current players are gonna want to try them as well. It really is that simple really. initiate something new that people havent seen and you just reopened a game up.
As for the people saying people RP too much I think thats wrong. It's a RP server. It has RP rules. people would be lost with out them thats why we have them in RL. If you aren't into RP then play on another server and let us Geeks be Geeks.
I personally think that if the developers were to add new ships maybe lean towards some of the popular designs some of these newer space flight games are using. Make them sleek and cool. It is what attracts people and gets them interested. A for goodness sake make ships that can haul more that 5000 cargo its time that we are able to haul more.