Is the only way to increase your ship size through ranks and found (or bought) artifacts?

When going up in rank I'm guessing decks is the most important. Or is there other things I should be concentrating on?

Thanks.

I dont know if you can actually change the size of ship with an artifact I have had one artifact that increased my cargo hold size .

as far as what you do when you level thats all based on what you are trying to improve there are 3 crew type that increase defense/attack/research that can also be added under that tab ,also take into account what items you have researched ,new items take more space usually .

its a balancing act all based on how you want to play

ship bot is an artifact that gives you 2 deck space, and rescued prisoners grant rank points that can be put into decks.

Lazuli part's vault Artifact also gives you a bonus of 2 to the number of decks when you use it.

Yes decks are by far and away the best thing to buy. Eventually when you a very high level you can afford to start siphoning off more rank points, rescued prisoners, etc. to other things, namely energy attack and defense, but for the forseable future you'll much better suited to spending those points on decks.

for ship size... what is the level of advancement[ex: size 25 scout- size ?? is to what classification] from scout to next size ship class?

I got goliath (1050) size at rank 161. After that I switched 7 artifacts planets from research to artifacts. Decks from artifacts and NPCs outweigh decks from leveling now. After decks become a non-issue, there is only the issue of balancing your maintenance with your income and further planet development. The game only gets more complex as you go on. Artifact production and NPC hunting become the premier source of decks as you go on. Twinking yourself early on like that may stunt you overall though. Research is important earlier and it goes on for a very long time untill you can't afford your upkeep. It is good to research and install planet structures before that happens though. Everyone has their own delicate balance.

thank you sinsa for the link.

you're welcome
you will also find many helpful resources on there,
although not all articles are on facts and they tend to get inaccurate when they start to write their opinions

oppinions do very hahaha.... all to there own but found in the same i contest.

so if i need rank points how can i get rescued prisoners like what mission is it? or whatever else it could be...

Artifact points for rescue prisoners and ship-bots.

shadin ambushers drop prisoners as well, also graxis the stryll prison drops Stryll prisoners.

I corrected there a bit. Out of five ambushers zero prisoners so far : (