maybe even useless police units, etc
LOL!
Anyway. I suppose that maybe there
are personal shuttles etc, just they might be too small to see? Most of the frigates and cruisers etc that you command have hundreds of crew, while shuttles would need no space for living quarters. (kinda like buses) Also, private ships would not need to carry weapons, or huge drives, etc.
The cruise ships, though... lol.
Adding even more 4x there... research "tourist ships" or sumthing... lol...
Maybe, on each of your planets, have a cool, distinctive city on it, that you can see, with gets bigger, coller, and more complex as the planet grows. Then you can be all heartbroken when the asshole you're fighting nukes it.

Same with transmissions... when you zoom in on a bustling, living planet, you hear various broadcasts, transmissions, that sort of stuff. Adverts for minicoke, lol.
Then when your planet gets hit.... silence.