I don't know if this may have been suggested but,
Would it be possible to make an add-on that introduced new cables based on the existing ones, that were jacketed exactly like the RP2 alloy wire is and then have them work with RP2 covers etc
i.e.
Jacketed copper cable, Jacketed Fibre Cable etc
this way we get cables that can be covered without making the core of IC2 dependant on RP2
I also wonder if this could be put into IC2 proper and have them only available is RP2 is present
Thanks for reading