As I said, simply release it without the secrets, only the static content in the human-colonized areas plus the general procedural generation. No Thargoids or whatever, but a fully functional game for everyone who depends on an offline version.
This would be fine, but it may be more cut down than they are willing to accept as a product.
Frontier seem both proud and protective of their baby. I think the reluctance to let us use an "army painter" colour picker on the paint jobs is that they think we would paint them pink, black and other shades that would mess with their chosen aesthetics.
I can totally understand that, and not willing to offer an off-line torso version of the game. Whether it's the "correct" approach has no full answer, but they are the ones who make the call.
Those who have no use for a game that requires an internet connection should seek a refund. I hope there won't be many, but some only have free time when working on an oil rig, I suppose.