Instead of them just being darkened when inoperative, what if modules actually got blown off and floated around in space when they were destroyed? It would add a little more ambience to the game that i think could be cool.
That would look pretty cool, but perhaps it would look better if the chunk of the ship containing the module got blown off(provided there are no other modules there and that it’s not too hard to code)
and little crewmembers could fall out… 
I think the hulks and debris are great, (they really add a feeling of… Gratuitous AWESOMENESS to the battle) and I’d love chunks as much as the next guy, but… there could be problems. One, what if the weapon was in the middle of the ship (which most of them are)? Two, some of the modules on a ship are close together (but aren’t connected weapons). I think just the modules blowing off would be enough (with a damage spot right under where the weapon would be)
1: Those modules simply wouldn’t take a chunk of the ship with them, only modules with defined chunks will take those with them if they fall off
2: again, not all modules would have to fall off, only in convenient locations.
This could only work if you could define chunks to fall off when the module in a slot is blown out, which seems a bit odd to me…
It would ofcourse be defined while making the ship, and ships without any defined chunks simply wouldn’t use the mechanic.
could be interesting with empire ships… since theyre basically a pile of scaffolding around a wimpy center
“Captain! We’re under attack by swarms of rusty bent girders!!!”