May I suggest the creation of a paralel server, not dicimilar from the PVP server of old?
Give everyone that registers on that server 2 billion credits, and let them go and buy their bounty hunter battleships. Let's give them a play-pen where they can test out all the features of Discovery with minimal rules and no RP entanglements.
Let them get it out of their systems, so that when they come onto the RP server they are no-longer motivated by getting an opportunity to fly a battleship, and instead focus on the RP.
This would keep the trade routes free of individuals who have no intention to RP and are just saving up for their battlecruisers, making money at all costs at the expense of RP