@ FooF: I used clunkers throughout the whole game, with a completely unskilled character. Killing Remnant fleets is easier than you think, if you have carriers. The bigger fleets in two or three ping systems are a great source of various rare weapons and exclusive fighter LPCs. Occasionally, you get cores as random loot, and you can consider that as your bounty payment. Fleets regenerate after a while, so they can be farmed from time to time.
As for battlestations, the weakened ones are... weak, and a fleet of clunkers can destroy it without much of a problem. I do not know about full powered battlestation; I resorted to range and ECM stacking to make beam Paragon outrange it (in an experiment).
I am more likely to lose ships in endgame bounty fights than from Remnants. However, bounties have guaranteed income. Remnants may have special loot.
Astral, Onslaught, and especially Paragon are strong. Get one in your fleet, even if it is a clunker too. Legion is good, though not quite as strong. They are common capitals; even the pirate faction uses Legion as their capital of choice.
My weapons are mostly things I buy from open market, plus some relatively common stuff at Black Markets such as graviton beams, pulse lasers, and Piranha chips.
Clunkers are effective and disposable.