back when I played x3tc, cheats were in fact the answer for immersion. If you wanted to design your own custom gamestart, you had two methods - write a gamestart as the game defines it, or choose one of the default ones and cheat things to be the way you want it. In the end, the comprehensive cheat tools available means actually writing up a gamestart was far too much effort.
What I am saying here, is that cheats are in fact the answer. As much as it pains me to say it, its much easier to custom-create your game via chats then campaign for more options >.>
(also, personal limitations were another big thing - if you thought X was overpowered, generally the answer was to not use it)