Nothing is easy when it comes to create your own game. I looked on and off for a team to join. The thing is, the engine doesnt matter that much. Most of the nowadays game engines like the UDK or Unity3D are capable of rendering beautiful scenes. I would recommend Unity3D, since it comes with a free version, and the pro version is not going to cost you 25% royalties like UDK, which seems to be rediculous. For the Freespace Engine. Even if it is Opensource and you already got something like a template i dont think it is suited for any purpose anymore. Its simply outdated and that goes for gameplay, graphics, controls and so on.
Like Aparso said, work on the Concept of the game. Especially the game mechanics are important. Create a prototype with 1 or 2 dummy models to show. We all have ideas, but its the effort and dedication that will make good people join your team.
Design Document ----> Prototype ----> Team-up
I have seen countless ppl daydreaming about making a game, but 99% never even finished the Design Document, which basically is a fleshed out version of your ideas. Anyway, i dont want to get anybody down. But being reasonable is never wrong
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Ok, so now what i would like to see:
A RTT like Nexus of course. Only one difference though. A production pipeline of modding tools for creating custom content by the community. Imagine you would have a shipeditor, where you choose the models/textures, place the turrets and engines via mouse. Then just add some scripts for the ships properties and voila. New ship ready to place as ingame content. Then a campaign editor, simply place your ships. Set some targets and routes and done again.
Easy to use modding tools will keep a game alive far longer then any good looking 3d shooter.
And here we have a nice collection of ideas. Its for Homeworld 3 but in the 933 posts iam sure there will be some useful stuff and interesting read
Homeworld 3 Wishlist