EVE Online is probably the authority when it comes to "ships in space" gaming. There are so many different classes of ships in EVE it's dizzying to look at when trying to figure out what ship to get. All of their ships have an array of module bays and customization options, it's actually very well designed but a nightmare to balance. Many ships have had to be nerfed from time to time just to keep everything fair, it's always being reviewed and adjusted.
But to keep things simple and straight forward in Entropia space, just do something like this:
- Add a slot to all space faring ships for a new kind of attachment - Ship Repair Modules
- Create say 6 levels of Ship Repair Modules:
- Level 1 Ship Repair Modules go on Sleipnirs and is roughly equivalent to an RK-5
- Level 2 Ship Repair Modules go on Quad-Wings and is roughly equivalent to RK-12.5 (halfway between RK-5 and RK-20)
- Level 3 Ship Repair Modules go on Equus and is roughly equivalent to RK-12.5, but can repair other ships too
- Level 4 Ship Repair Modules go on Privateers, is equivalent to RK-20 and can also repair other ships
- Motherships have 2 Ship Repair Module slots which can use either one of Level 5 or 6
- Level 5 Ship Repair Modules go on Motherships, is equivalent to RK-30 and can only repair other ships
- Level 6 Ship Repair Modules also go on MS, is equivalent to an RK-60 and can only repair other ships
So when you go out on a Society or Team hunt in friendly space, you just need someone with a Privateer or Equus, and you're all set. Or alternately, you could just make sure that everyone has a self-repairing module equipped to their ships.
When you go out for a Soc or Team hunt in lootable PVP space, it gets interesting. The Mothership with it's Gunner seats and it's ability to have a large crew to repair it, and 2 Ship Repair Modules to fix other ships becomes a highly valuable asset. Also Motherships have a ton of Cargo space which will most likely be quite handy once space mining starts.
It's important to note that Motherships can only be repaired by the crew on-board and cannot be repaired by another ships Repair Modules (Privateers, Equus or another Mothership).
Privateers should be able to go out and operate solo, be able to repair themselves as needed and be able to hunt or mine as they please. Motherships would be able to do this as well but also should be able to support a fleet of players who are mining and hunting in the vicinity.
A new Repair ship should be introduced which doesn't have any weapon slot but has an Area-of-Effect Repair Module which can be used to repair other ships in it's vicinity. An Equus or Privateer would still have a huge advantage over this new ship because they are also able to repair themselves with their modules and have weapons equipped, whereas this new Repair ship cannot, meaning that in a team hunt, you'd need at least 2 of them so that they can repair each other as they take damage in the hunting grounds.
All this is a ton of programming so better have a long-term view of the direction space will develop but I think the above should prove to be quite workable in the long run.