I understand where you are coming from here - small dev team, not a lot of time for side projects. Makes sense.
And this is where I step in and laugh. Please. Incredible plans? Don't circlejerk. Cut to the chase. You don't want to add an API because Schema and his two helpers don't have the time - AND they keep shuffling that engine code around each major update. That, at least, makes sense.
No, it won't. Space Engineers already did all this. It's not new territory.
Plans? You guys can't even build a fully functional carrier and fleet system. Schema promised it for years, and now we get this buggy system that is a shadow of what it could be. How is that supposed to instill confidence in your ability to follow through with these 'plans'?
Then.....what is it? Starmade is (more or less) in Space Engineers' niche. If Starmade isn't supposed to be *just another* space sandbox, then what the actual Scott Sterling is Starmade supposed to be?
Oh right. A ship building simulator. Forgot. Sorry!
We can make mods in Starmade that give 'nicer' looking ships. I've played with those mods. What Starmade cannot do that Space Engineers' API CAN is add features like parachutes that are not in the vanilla game. To top it off, mods are downloaded from the server each time you join, so it's really not that bad.
And Space Engineers is far from 'an unstable compilation of memory leaks and half-baked designs.' For one, what memory leaks? Second, what half baked designs? They have almost three times the block types that Starmade does. They have three types of thrusters for two different environments, and they have a fully functional crew/interior system. Starmade has the glorious corner block (ALL HAIL THE CORNER BLOCK).
P.S. Starmadedock - Please pull your head out of the sand.
ShadowPilot has made some great points here. Every one of them is a significant part of why MushroomFleet no longer actively interacts with others in the Starmade community. Shutting him down like this is hilariously short sighted.