I'll be honest, I agree with almost everything you said in that. ALMOST. :PThis doesn't add "roleplay." It just forces players into crippling overspecification of their more "advanced weapons" depending on where they set up their base.
A system cube isn't about being lazy or not caring about your ship or whatever you think it's about. It's about min-maxing. If you introduce the Ultimate Min-Maxing Tool, which supposedly allows ships that are "little babbys" (still no clear definition on what the fuck that actually means in terms of size), they're going to use it, and we're going to be right back at square one. Obviously there are blueprints for this. If they are able to be uploaded to the server, it'll just be a matter of time before someone makes the best version possible of each weapon type, and then everybody will have it, because they'd be MORONS to use anything else. If it's not able to be uploaded to the server, you'll have a schematic someone posts online for how to build the best modules, at which point somebody will build them in-server.
Instead of smaller well designed ships taking on bigger system bricks, you're just gonna have a well designed small ship getting it's ass handed to it by a larger system brick with the same god damn weapon systems the smaller ship is running. You know, the same thing that already happens right now?
No matter what, we will always be back to square one, but it's how slowly we get there that matters. The current system allows for placing systems everywhere, and you're done. Whereas this one opens up the gate to more than just extra pew pew, it creates more of a reason to explore, to discover whats in the galaxy and still gain from it. It can open up the gateway to research, researching into an area and suddenly discovering something new, inventing a new hull piece that is randomly generated in terms of variables. While it may not balance the game forever, it will do for some time, and it will allow for more things to do in the game, and in the time where there is balance, there is a chance for those willing to turn around and fight, to actually stand a chance until the guys with the assholinilation cubes realize that they need to invest time into exploration and such. This could give planets a use, could allow stations to be useful for more than just devouring it.