Which is not to say that such weapons would not be mounted such that they are visible for access/aesthetics reasons. What is with the If one ship has visible weapons all should and if one does not none can anyway? Some ships would, by nature, have highly visible changes with upgrades others not.Deus Siddis wrote:This also ties back into the discussion of weapon systems being externally differentiable, since maneuvering thrusters will tend to be as big as or bigger than guns, if you can hide and protect them inside a hull section the same should be possible with at least non-turreted weapons.
Let's take the Ox. Given it's current in-game appearance I would expect it to show nearly every upgrade. Cargo expansions, crew quarters, guns all would be hung off the skeletal frame. Anything that size would have massive RCS thrusters, and given the general layout, likely on booms well outside the core of the ship. The mule just screams internal and compact, So guns in bumps on the hull and only ports for RCS thrust makes sense.
I do caution you, Deus, an artist can be his worst critic. What you see as glaring defects may be seen by others as amusing, even endearing, quirks. You know how it is supposed to look and every thing that is wrong, that does not mean that everyone does. Then there is the dodo.....