What people either fail to realize, or choose to ignore, is that for the 'pitifully short merchant roster', which I agree is completely lacking, is set as it is until privateer finishes his object importer.
Privateer has made a ton of headway in giving us the ability to create and import objects into the submarine and game. As for the campaign, I too am surprised at the amount of work that could be done. Albeit, I would try to fix it but I would probably do more damage anything (a la Ubisoft
)
Cheers,
Krauter