Hull cladding and aesthetics are actively discouraged by the mechanics of the game, at least as regards to small ships. There are serious mass penalties in the mechanics, most especially if you want to use cloaking. The end result is that there is a strong encouragement to use little to no such cladding, to not add 'useless' mass to a ship solely to make it look good or make it more "RP".
Personally I would like to make my ships look pretty and to add the roleplaying nicities, but not if it is going to seriously detract from my ability to survive pirates with my small ship. I would like to suggest that a new category of hull be added, that of 'cosmetic' hull. It would have only a single hit point but add zero mass. Ideally it would be configured to have zero hit points and therefore not stop damage from passing through. Most other cosmetic blocks that have no function other than to beautify a ship, should also have zero mass.
Personally I would like to make my ships look pretty and to add the roleplaying nicities, but not if it is going to seriously detract from my ability to survive pirates with my small ship. I would like to suggest that a new category of hull be added, that of 'cosmetic' hull. It would have only a single hit point but add zero mass. Ideally it would be configured to have zero hit points and therefore not stop damage from passing through. Most other cosmetic blocks that have no function other than to beautify a ship, should also have zero mass.