David,
I agree with your outlook on this one... mostly. I would like to avoid that the outside of the ship begins more to resemble a playground jungle gym instead of a space-going vessel. Nevertheless, ladders and safety railings are required. The attached image shows the progress with some of the ladders. There are others down below on the flanks of the ship, each near an airlock hatch. These ladders will allow easier access to the outside of the ship, to some degree eliminating the need for space-suited techs to either jump and/or fly to whatever surface they need to get to. But, at a certain moment it will be necessary to attach those safety tether lines and make a go for whatever hard-to-reach area needs attention.
Some of the ladders go up and down in what would appear to be the classic manner. Some portions along the flanks run sideways. It is all the same to someone in free fall, there is no up or down and all directions are equal so far as effort is concerned. The ladders are really just glorified handholds allowing one to pull oneself to a destination.
I'm also thinking that not every portion of the ship requires attention to the same degree. In my opinion, the ease of access is related to how often something needs to be attended to. I suppose this means the design of the system of ladders may change a bit as more items are added to the ship and that silly thought alarm in my head goes off again, saying, "Hey, I didn't think of that!".
Much more still to be created, so stay tuned and don't touch that dial.
- Ignatz