It's actually really not hard. I did my own and will be doing another custom ship-set in the future. I had zero experience modding when I did this. I can understand that opening up an xml file for the first time can seem intimidating, but really the biggest challenge to creating and modding a ship set in is how tedious it gets.

I have advocated for something along the lines of your request, but I would much rather dev time and resources go into things like creating a compelling super-weapon mechanic, espionage, politics, etc. I don't see a fancy ship-style editor as being essential in any way, but could be a nice addition in the future. I think creating custom starbases (and their adjoining modules) is easily the most difficult part, and so could benefit from such an easy-use interface.

There are tutorials on the forums on how to create new ship styles, and it is not very difficult to put together. However I recommend looking at Gauntlet's Race Mod to get an idea on how new ship styles are put together as a point of reference.

The point you bring up about associating a ship-set with a race via steam workshop is, in my view, the biggest turn off for modders as it really limits the community. 

I don't see how this would turn modders off, modders want to be creative, they don't mind having easier tools to work with. I think I make the most shipsets, and I would consider a tool (and my god KapitenR... what do you want to make that!?) an enormous benefit.

And I do have conflicting interests. My mod and shipsets may never have reached the level of popularity it has if the market were flooded with people easily making shipsets. Its arguably to my benefit that making shipsets isn't easy right now.

But if it were easy, then I would have produced a lot more content by now. And ultimately, I'd rather my shipsets compete on their merits, not simply because "well not many shipsets are even available".

This, and I think adoption of shipset downloading would be very high. I have about 4600 unique downloads on Nexus, that's great and all, but I think if I could offer the same material through Steam, it would be double or more.

Now do we NEED a shipset editor more than other content? Yes and no. GC3 is not a uniquely tough strategy game, nor is it for the casual gamer, I don't think it's depth or strategy sets it apart in the market. I think what sets it apart is its dedication to great aesthetics. It has the best engine, the best graphics, and the most modability and customization options for a 4X that I know of. A shipset editor enhances what is unique about the game. OH, and GC is known for good AI to boot.

If it were me, I'd definitely be working on a shipset editor, sell it for 5-10$ with some extra ship parts possibly, and allow people who didn't buy the editor to download shipsets. Full color palette controls too.

But I would have the majority of my team working on the starbase problem, re-balancing combat, and such, its in fact, incredibly "Fathom-able" why they haven't done this yet. They've been busy and we already got spoiled with the ship editing.

... Its downright amazing they used any development time to give us custom-part saving...