The neat thing is all the ships seem extremely configurable. I was reading through stats and item options and it almost seems like you could start a group that made their business out of salvage.
There was something about using a tractor beam to haul resources from destroyed ships onto yours. You could almost make an in-game living out of waiting just outside the zone of a battle and cleaning up afterwards.
That's in addition to being a merchant, explorer, pirate, military, mercenary, or who knows what else.