You're right, we probably won't be able to follow the canon exactly. Partially why I have the engines named for sublight instead of hyperdrives in the SW universe, which woul just be classes (.5 class for the falcon Class 1 or 2 for capital ships, etc).
Actual races would play a role still. The only factions that would be races would be the rebels, republic, Empire, CIs, or whichever we choose. Other races, such as the Mon Cals, Hutts, Bothans, etc would still be major (and minor on some other small ones) races. After all, what if the Mon Cals and the Bothans hadn't put in with the rebels?
Just my thoughts

. And it probably is the only way we can really do it.
As for the shipyards, I didn't even think about using the companies. I was thinking more of using the shipyard locations. Bilbringi, Sluis Van, Fondor, Kuat, Corellian, etc. Though we will probably have to go by Rebel, Imperial, CIS, Republic (Just have some ships from each faction spread across all sizes so they are all equal) and then do seperate ones like the Mon Cals, Corellians, etc. Some will just be in multiple options.
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