Thanks for the update Conch & Devs!
But... Wow. These guys (Darkside RP) get it, you need to watch this. I'd recommend that you halt new content, and shift to solely optimization, bug fixing, and increasing the capability of your dev kit. There is no shame in making a great foundation for a game and then handing off more control to your players to mod. There are several developers that do this, and are very successful. It won't be easy if you've already budgeted and planned out your roadmap for development that includes content development and overhauling game mechanics. You'll also need to consider how to support console mod support as they're your growth market. Ramping down your official servers is another cost saving perk as the modded player run servers take over.
Reducing customization of ships, and sea tames to pull ships. Two points in your Q&A highlight the classic error in development, I see it again and again. On one hand you're steering away from the original core game, while adding new content that destabilizes & dilutes the scope of the game.
Do this- go back to the original Atlas trailers. Consider what attracted 40,000 excited players. What kind of game did they expect to play? What are the remaining active players holding out hope for? You're making the game that you think they want to play, and that's fair, but frankly you're missing the mark. I expect to see the same cycle of player population up and down after updates and wipes, but overall downward with your current strategy.
TL;DR - If you don't understand the game that your players want to play, then focus on your dev kit and divert resources to optimization & bug fixes.