Well, this is an interesting discussion and with alot of ideas, but everyone should keep in mind that -as far as I see- here is no perfect solution which everyone can completely agree with.
I completely understand that any veteran wants to keep stay ahead of the crowd EP wise and they should (I would want that aswell).
Now as a new player I also of course wish to eventually be able to a veteran myself, which is theoretically impossible if the ep system stays the way it is. The reason I can live with this situation is simple: unlike EvE this game is alot younger and thus vets arent as far ahead.
But this problem will get worse and worse as the time is passing by. And the older this game becomes, the more and more new players will feel intimated by the feeling that they can never catch up. Also you have to keep in mind as the game is progressing there will be more and more extensions and most likely even bigger robots and bigger guns and the gap will be even more drastic.
Now solutions for this issue, well suggestions:
Idea 1: You could try to somehow progressivly increase the start EP for new accounts over time, but of course not at the same rate an active account would gain EP. Infact you could also add that system to unsubbed accounts. Something as like 0.25 ep per minute? You would need to balance the numbers more of course. But this is also more treating the symptoms than the actual problem since over time (even though alot slower) the same problem would persist.
Idea 2: Another idea would of course be to make some kind of hybrid EP model. Keep the current as it is and add another option to gain additional EP. Basically reward EP for an activity. Be it Assignments rewards, EP gain item drops, or even EP gain directly related to actions like killing or mining. Now here aswell you need to keep an eye on the balance. You have to make the EP gain through such activities *very small* Infact microscopic small. It has to be small enough to not make older players angry and quit, yet to be a tiny tiny glimpse of hope to new players to eventually in the far future catch up.
Lets say per assignment and difficulty you get 1 to 10 EPs. These numbers are so low, which means there is a chance people can catch to a vet by actively be online and playing, but it would take pretty much forever - and I assume vets would also do the assigments so they would stay ahead still. And even if they dont want to do assigments, they will stay ahead for a very very very long time and only if they never do any and everyone else does.
This way you give all new players a feeling or better put the "illusion" of being able to catch up - but thats exactly whats matters.
Apexx