I'd say it's more a question of balancing.

having too much hull is useless / having lots of defense and 0 hull isn't good either (but depends on your adversary).

My thought has been in order to stay alive better you need need def, shields, and hull all together in order to be hard to kill. But it does take a lot of work to have all those on and weapons.

I find it easy to prevent attacks by having 4 big guns and a huge jammer. other than that only 1 person has ever disabled me. (and in revenge I have killed him twice now)

Just FYI.. Hull bug seems to be fixed about several days ago. I equipped all 5 microgels and was able to win EVERY battle even against hull less players (they are much easier now) and against high hull players. I'm so glad that hull bug is gone apparently. Or it found it's right balance this time depends on defense and hull mixture. I dunno. All I know is that I perform much better with hull on than without now... I used to perform much better without any hull during the bug period..

No way that has been fixed yet. I noticed this phenomenon when i started researching better hulls as well. I Have attacked a few ships recently including one just a few minutes ago with horrible results.

Me
ATT 291
DEF 219

THEM
ATT 35
DEF 15

Results
I lose! I lost 19 they lost 17. WTF
I tried again and won 7 to 17

This is not the first time though, I mena come on, especially with that drastic of a difference in stats. Hull is useless. Totally useless!

that idea kept me safe most the game. a guy attacked me today and only clicked attack once... he saw my damage output and ran away.

I only keep a Heavy Laser Cannon, a Heavy Mass Driver, and a Psionic Amplifier and people stay away from me. To me it doesnt seem like that much. Im rank 40.

It's a lot easier with a psionic amplifier and 4 heavy plasma cannons!

not many my level have or can afford h disruptors. they are intimidating just my themselves.

i thought you needed a big scanner to stop hacks? or are you saying thats like a big "see this i can hack your butt flag", just as the heavy disruptors are a kick your butt flag? they are sweet by the way ive very happy with my 3, id been even happier with 4

cloaks make it so that you may never show up on another player's scan, so they won't be able to see you to hack. Also, cloak is factored into preventing hacks as well.