Besides, compared to a lot of other games that require "grinding" to progress, Starsector is pretty lax. It's not like you get stonewalled by this one thing you have to find to level up and continue. If you're looking for one single particular ship, then fine, I wish you luck, but it's not like the hunt for that has to stop progression of any other goals you have in the game (as with certain other grindy games).
And, if you want one more point: Finding cool and rare ships as either salvagable derelicts or in markets, and not knowing what's going to be available until you get there, is part of the fun of the game. It's the same reason people like random maps in Roguelike games and such - or even Random Core Worlds in Nexerelin. The moment you get frustrated* or lazy during a hunt for a specific ship, and feel the need to resort to "throwing money at it", I worry that you've removed that aspect of enjoyment from the game. I too look for specific ships sometimes, and if I was able to just say "screw it, I'll just pay some extra credits and get it now", I would worry that doing that would lose me a huge amount of playtime.
* Incidentally, when I say "you get frustrated and remove that aspect of enjoyment" I'm referring to how frustration often chases away enjoyment, with the implication that you might not be doing the right thing. If you're hunting for that ship and getting frustrated at being unable to find it - and as such not enjoying the play experience - then my recommendation is simple: Stop searching for that ship and do something else.
I do not agree with any of this. Perhaps I would decades ago, but not today.
Grinding is lax compared to Diablo II and perhaps other modern games, but it still does not make the grinding any less taxing.
During the pre 0.8 days, I got sick of Tri-Tachyon shops stocking Hammerhead after Hammerhead, when every other market sells low-tech/midline. THE high-tech faction kept selling low-tech frigates and midline junk (and Hammerhead was awful before 0.8 ), aside from the obligatory Odyssey or Paragon. If I wanted a Tempest or Hyperion, the easiest way to get one was to attack a Tri-Tachyon fleet (either proper or pirate-in-name-only deserter), and save-scum that battle for about an hour (due to terrible boarding chances) until I successfully board it. (The save-scum deterrence in some later versions only lengthened the time to get a ship, and it was still the fastest way. It was much like farming Mephisto or other Diablo II drop boss while wearing mostly magic-find equipment.)
Today, I am sick of arming most of my ships with stuff I can readily find at Open Markets (Mortars, Arbalests, Mark IX) or the handful of Black Market staples (like LAGs and Pulse Lasers).
Then... when NPC factions can use as many rare ships and weapons as it wants, and I cannot, even when I have enough money to buy an entire market and then some, it gets more irritating. Ever since 0.8 switched to ship recovery, I am able to acquire Tempests (and other ships) far more easily than I used to. At least most ships are easy to acquire provided I am willing to suffer (D) mods on them (because restoration is very expensive). Weapons, on the other hand, are generally harder to replace than ships.
I do not bat an eye at reloading the game as soon as a lose a rare ship or weapon, which before 0.8 was nearly everything (aside from some frigates and Hammerheads). I call that saving time. Means I do not need to spend days rebuilding a character. Today, if I lose a clunker with open market weapons, I do not care and continue with the game, although I get tired of having my entire fleet be said clunkers. As soon as I lose my elite flagship, an undamaged ship (that I cannot buy), or a ship that needs rare weapons to work, it is an instant reload.