Hi,
The ship designs that come out of the workshop are amazing.
I recommend some custom limit "class" templates that are obvious to the world of Avorion. These already exist with names like, frigate, cruiser, battleship and so on.
If there were more specific requirements, shown to the player as challenges or benchmarks, the player would have a clear milestone for simple ship development. This is not too important by itself. Where the good stuff comes in is the game adopting well designed and "approved" ships from the workshop into the NPC galaxy.
Special bosses, battleships, station designs - all of these could be adopted from the amazing designs the community has created. I know this would greatly enhance the visual experience, as well as offer a cool way to reward players who build creations that really work and live up to a sci fi galaxy of surprise and adventure.
Whatever reason your not using this treasure trove of amazing stuff is bologna! Come together, strategize a format for accepting ship designs into the general universe, it will be worth it. maximum amazing.
I know there is copycat and IP issues with some peoples designs, I still think its worth it to figure these issues out and expand the visual quality .