DocAce

Anecdote: as I was testing just this, I hid myself in a tube-like structure in a station that just about fit my ship, with a half dozen enemy fighters trying to attack me. I was sitting very still, looking out the far end of the tube. After a short time I saw them passing back and forth and immediately felt like a diver in a shark cage! It didn't take them very long to find their way inside - the first one actually came in behind me, fired a missile and made me jump half out of my chair.

While it's not a single thread, lots of calculations - especially those potentially affecting framerate - are distributed over a few specialized threads (4 if I'm not mistaken, but please don't hold me to that), so while the game can theoretically use all cores a high frequency will also help a lot.

You will have your middle of nowhere, more than one if you want :-) Might need to protect it well though... But I get the feeling that an "evil lair of evildoings" isn't complete without some menacing fleet anyway :-)

The system used can actually be different while fighting than otherwise - regular-sized ships switch from precalculated paths to a per-frame steering model that can react very quickly to changing situations and perform various maneuvers. Even in this model the ship can make use of path finding around stations, so that they don't get stuck trying to fly through a wall.

There will be variations of each type of interior, yes. I don't want to talk too much detail - spoilers, you know :-) Regarding the weapons: you can have several weapons installed, but only one shoots at a time. In previous games weapons were often rather similar, especially when it comes to range and projectile speed, so shooting several different ones at the same time worked. In Rebirth they are very varied to serve different tactical purposes, so we encourage the player to choose the right weapon for the right situation.