Well what are you looking to do eventually in the verse the most? Do you want an everyday ship that can do normal things or do you want a purpose built industrial ship to tear apart wrecks and process them? Both have the same crew requirement iirc.
I don't believe you. I'm willing to bet that a few more people and I can trade our ammunition and EMP weapons for some Vanduul ships. They are just far more unwilling than us to complete the transaction which makes it all the sweeter as we close the deal.
Not exactly a bad idea overall but it has a severe flaw. Day 1 no one will have much cash. They cap the UEC you can have now at 150K so no one can start the game a millionaire or more. Selling to NPCs may or may not be possible for something like an Idris. How many NPCs could buy such a thing...