You're correct imo. The difference is that FDev will implement FCs in such a way as to make owning and running one so onerous that most people won't bother, even if many of us already have the billions to buy and equip such a vessel/ship/station/whatever this thing is supposed to be.
Would rather they spent their time developing the promised but undelivered ice planets and also add atmo planets.
To be frank, i see no usefulness in having a fleet carrier that requires a weeks worth of grinding in order to make just one jump...which, knowing FDev, is exactly what will be required.
I share this sentinment a bit, but am going to try and stay positive. Seeing how things like Holo-Me and GalNet voice, etc, were done, is they implement things into the game when they can. I think they may have intended for ice planets, but when they did it over a bigger network, it didn't work. I have this concern about Fleet Carriers, too. Everything looks like it should work. If it doesn't at "go time", they will not release it. There's bugs they can work with, then there's bigger bugs that just may break everything. Then, I have a backup hope that things they've wanted to do but cant, with how their engine is now, will be fixed with next years big update.
I think the usefulness will be for long range stuff. Being able to repair while on the other side of the galaxy, etc. It may not be worth it to some, but they're not forcing people to use these things, but they're there to be used. I'll definitely be using this, if it makes it into the game.
One thing I am wondering about is the lack of a shipyard. Shipyard is how you get your multiple ships around, currently. You cant have 2 ships at a place without a shipyard. Does anyone know if they'll be using another way to have more than one of your own ships on a Fleet Carrier? Or, is it intended to be only carrying your current ship? I really hope we can have more than your currentship on a Fleet Carrier.