This is my theory.  There are those who paint in brushes and strokes.  There are those who paint pixel by pixel.  For the first set there is the control click mechanism.  For the second set there is the offset.   In my house, the offset has already set two OCD geeks in full geek ecstasy.  Seriously, there was actual moaning and "I liiiike that!!"  It was silly and great.  Same goes for being able to type in rotation speeds and other numbers in that interface.  Yes. Yes. Yes.

The problem I found with off-set was that dragging the bar moved it in too greater steps so I had to click on the numbers and keep reguessing offset numbers until I got it about where I wanted it. That wasn't easy or intuative though I know they are working on the UI.

My question here is that if holding ctrl enables you to drag a part to any position ignoring hard points which is what I was told but haven't yet tested, how can positioning a part on a hard point then offsetting it be easier? And if it's not why not drop offsets and just add a free move toggle button rather than makign people hold down ctrl?

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have another chance to play with the shipyard myself and see.

First off, as said above, hardpoints are for quick ship building.

Offsets are for people who want to be precise in placement. Or want to move a part once it has been placed.

In addition placing a part holding control can be kind of tricky, because the nature of 3D, and they are placed on the 0 axis plain, so you cant easily drop a part on the top of a ship for example.  

Hope this helps.