I'm working on part of the R&D package, starting with ship modules. The idea is this: if the player has the appropriate building and specialists, as well as a hired agent acting as chief designer, they can design a ship module, or an entire ship, themselves.
Each module and ship has its own separate development path: a design bureau. The agent is the module's chief designer. The project depends on that agent.
At the very first stage, the player specifies a range of desired parameters, which differ for each module type. After some time and an expenditure of resources, the design bureau produces a result. Sounds simple, right? But what's happening under the hood? First, the player can request, for example, a galley to serve a crew of 12, 120, or 1,200. The system quietly calculates the dimensions; the amount of equipment, workspaces, and materials needed for the rooms and bulkheads; even the amount of wiring. It then gives an initial estimate so that incompatible requirements can be resolved. A galley with one cook, for example, cannot serve 1,200 people.
Next comes a list of how much material and equipment will be needed, of what types and quality, along with approximate figures for energy use, heat output, water consumption, and so on.
Once the design is finalized, a prototype is built and design documentation is prepared for subsequent production. The quality and characteristics of the module will depend on many factors: the agent's level and talent, the engineers' level, and the level of the design bureau itself.
The finished design can be sent to a factory or shipyard. The module can be built separately for sale, or built directly into a ship under construction or renovation.
Or you can keep improving the design, or trying to. For example, you could ask to reduce energy consumption or construction labor hours, change materials, or lower the weight. There will be many parameters. Which characteristics improve, and which worsen as a result, is something of a lottery, influenced again by the chief designer, their team, and other factors.
Another interesting point is that an ideal module has already been calculated under the hood for every design, right at the boundary of what is possible. It will therefore be impossible to exceed physical limits. There is another detail: as technology develops, capabilities may change substantially in some areas, shifting that ideal limit.
This gives us an endless variety of modules and ships, their gradual evolution and tailoring to specific goals, and, in effect, an almost endless pursuit of perfection that is nevertheless achievable with a great deal of effort. And you won't have to get an ultra-rare blueprint as a drop from a mob guarded by a group that keeps everyone else away.