There are two kinds of points in the game - experience points (XP) and domination points (DP). You need XP to unlock ships and other items, while DP boosts your online ranking and gives you a chance for a daily reward.

You gain XP by doing missions, killing enemies and using quest-bots.

You can boost your XP by farming pirate zones and doing missions, but it is generally a good idea to avoid the missions that come after tutorial. They simply aren't worth the trouble.

Domination points are gained in PvP zones. You get a certain amount organically, just by being in the zone, but you can also get 50 DP for each enemy player you kill, outpost you destroy and various awards for winning alerts.

In the south central map of the area there are Unicorn sectors. They disappear after you get to level 16, so you need to visit them earlier.

When choosing a ship, you need to think of its purpose. If you are looking to help your faction, an Engineer ship is your best choice, though it will earn you less points. On the other hand, Tanks are great early on for acquiring as much DP as possible. Finally, once you get past the start, you should concentrate on getting one of the Fighter class ships like Falcon. When upgraded, these ships become extremely powerful for attacks.

Solar becomes extremely valuable in the late game, so try to save up on it as much as possible.

Pirates can randomly drop boxes that you can open only with keys you gather by winning alerts. You can also buy transporter's boxes from the store. They hold a great deal of things, some even holding rare ships.

Falcon Mk II is considered by many to be one of the greatest ships both for fast mining and quick battles.

On the other hand, building a Leviathan is basically a waste of time and resources. They are not worth it. It is a better idea to just gather more resources and wait a little bit longer.