The problem is the model isn't simply cosmetic skin with each ship having a different set of stats. The IFCS (intelligent flight control system) is probably the most complex aspect, which is different for each ship. Due to the game "Realistically" modelling physics, the IFCS basically tells the the main thruster and maneuvering thrusters how to fire, so that your ship is controlable in a zero-g and fritionless enviroment. As each ship is of different size, shape, mass and thruster placement, the IFCS for each different ship gives out different instructions. Also since each part of the ship has mass, losing any part of the ship requires these thrusters to compensate for the change in shape and mass. Then there's losing a thruster. Mass itself is rather interesting in how it affects the game. The Vanduul Scythe have a large heavy wing that is essentially deadweight (they use it to ram you with). Shoot that off and their ships suddenly become very maneuverable. That's just the IFCS. While there are aspects that can be used on each ship with out much adjustment, a lot of it requires hand crafting. Regarding the stats, it is rather interesting. Based on the stats alone you'd guess the Aurora wouldn't stand a chance in a fight with a Hornet or a 300i. However due to thruster placement, low mass and rather box like hull protecting it's engines and important systems, it actually stands up pretty well. Meanwhile the 300i's engine is rather in the open and gets blown off easily (which isn't a real issue as it's a luxury ship, not a fighter).
I put a note in free games, but I'll also mention it here. Origin is giving away Wing Commander III for free at the moment. So if you are already forced to use Origin you might as well get it. If you don't use Origin and you want it, you'll have to download the client and register an account with them.
That shit was state-of-the-art for video games at the time! In some ways, I do miss the CD-ROM explosion. Once it became possible to load hundreds of megabytes of stuff into a computer in a few seconds, people went nuts with full-motion video, huge (at the time) games, and so forth. I don't exactly miss how terrible a lot of the FMV games were--they certainly developed into an embarrassing fad--but WC3 and WC4 did a lot to show what the medium had to offer. It's probably just as well that FMV all but died out as people started demanding more interactivity and better in-game graphics instead of settling for great-looking CGI video and hideous real-time rendering. And then the whole prospect of having to install entire CD (and later DVD) games to disk sort of defeated the purpose of having the damn things on optical media in the first place.
You know, I was going to suggest that maybe they should have an option to install PC games on a USB drive, but then I realized I was describing a freakin' cartridge!
A rather cheeky Constellation commercial:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG-82TakEqk Constellation multi-crew gameplay:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIl2TyBbA9o
For anyone that is interested, all ships that are implemented in Arena Commander are available to all backers for the weekend.