The arguments here are all valid.
I was a strong advocate for pre-generated systems back in the early days of C#. Trust me on this one: you really don’t want too many NPRs or systems generated in VB6, not just at the start, but pretty much ever.
God forbid I disagree with Steve here, because we never really know what he’s working on behind the scenes or what each campaign is meant to test. That said, I see this a little differently.
Eight to ten NPRs may work well for him because his campaigns tend to be relatively short, or they begin with larger setups. I know this is not necessarily by design, but because he often uses them to test and implement new features while simultaneously playing in some of his favourite sci-fi settings. For all we know, he has a 1,000-year campaign hidden away in Aurora 5.0, built in Unity, and is secretly punishing the rest of us. Obviously, I’m kidding, as Steve has had plenty of substantial campaigns over the years, as well, with the Cold War campaign being one of the most prominent examples.
My main point is that while NPRs can slow your game down and occasionally throw errors that require some database-editing knowledge to resolve if you want to continue the save, I also agree with Nuclear: these events are rare nowadays, and the five-second slowdowns, while still annoying, are far less prominent than they were a year ago when we were all dealing with the peekaboo scouts, for example.
As you said, it is ultimately up to the players to manage themselves. Instead of beginning as a Conventional race and progressing through the usual low-tech TN phase, they could simply give themselves a small boost: increase their starting wealth a little and purchase a modest navy from the outset. Nothing overpowered, just enough to place them roughly where they would normally be after the traditional opening years. Yes, with a stronger start, you’ll miss some of the early civilian buildup, but how many times do you really want to repeat the same opening sequence?
Back on topic, you cited Blue Emu. After all these years of experience, he is heavily focused on roleplay and AARs. I don’t think we should look at his specific choices or playstyle as a basis for changing the game or implementing new features. That is not to say we cannot learn from them or use them to improve the game; I am simply more cautious because of who we are dealing with.
I’ll give an example from the opposite end of the spectrum. That sort of “turtling” opening is not particularly well suited to a player like Zap0, who manages multiple factions. He needs the RP buildup of the conventional start to fit the narrative and maintain some degree of sanity, because setting up five or six races is already time-consuming. Managing them all from day one without that gradual progression can become tedious, as you lose the process of discovering where you are, where you’re going, and how you’re going to get there with the resources you start with. However, we also cannot use that playstyle as a justification to glorify the slow conventional multi-start and venture out as soon as possible because we are competing against six other factions in Sol. Not all players approach the game that way.
The point is that, as others have suggested, simply adding a few NPRs can create a livelier galaxy and encourage a more adventurous style of play without overwhelming performance or stability from day one of the campaign.
Ultimately, while I agree with many of your premises, especially since such a feature would not be mandatory, something I have advocated for myself, I think this conversation is approaching the same territory as removing SM because players can use it to cheat. There will always be mechanics that can be exploited in games. After all, that is the reason The Spiffing Brit has a job.
At the end of the day, a player who prefers a slower, more defensive opening is unlikely to enable the option anyway, so I am not entirely convinced it would significantly change how those campaigns are played. In many cases, we would probably end up back at square one.
Disclaimer: I am fully aware that both Blue Emu and Zap0 most likely have, or have had, many different campaigns running over the years. I am simply using their most famous examples so that readers can immediately understand the point being made.
Also, long live The Spiffing Brit and his tea empire.