Okay, so i've been playing the game mostly off the bat, was wondering if an experienced player could give some pointers.

My current ship stats are;

Rank 78

Max energy 384
Max Hull 1580
Max shield 215
Size class: light dreadnaught
Decks 515
Attack 684
Defence 639
Cloak 141
Cargo 120
Upkeep 10.7M
Battles 6694 (Champion)
Player Kills 794
Deaths from Players 51
Non-Player Kills 62
Planets Found 25
Planets Occupied 20
Planets Captured 5
Missions Completed 102
Scans Performed 52
Successful Hacks 58
Successful Raids 40

My research per hour is 1397
On my weapons tier i have just unlocked the first antiproton cannon
Defence tier i have unlocked Phase shift engine

Was just wondering how i was getting along for a newbie?

thanks in advance,
Archon

What worries me is your 52 scans, 25 found planets, and 20 occupied planets. Have you used a bunch of Chart Purgers to get it down to the bare minimum? I'm still a very low, but I know it's generally considered bad to colonize planets that aren't large+ and rich+ (excepting planets such as average 2x megarich, extremely massive extremely abundant, etc). Just going off of those stats, I would recommend getting some good scanners, a subspace seeker, tachyon cylinder, and continuum beacon next time you need a planet.

Of course, I'm not sure if you've purged many planets, or if you've scanned more planets than your stats let on, but that's the main issue I drew from your stats.

The amount of scans is low because i usually get my planets from my legion, at the minute, my best is a x2 rich gaia terra. I have the max amount of planets for my rank too, but you're right, my scanner research is low.

Very good stats and ship... but have in mind that upkeep will become a problem very soon if you dont spread your research around.. like not only researching weapons/hull/def. Put some research to planetary buildings(around 110-120 max you should have +8) and shields(around the same ranks or less you should have planetary shields(+750)).
Also its better to start riding and hacking early on. It gets almost impossible lately and also requires a lot of time, so the sooner you start the better.
As the others said.. research scanners as fast as possible.. you may have all your planets from shares, but i bet your artifact production is a bit low. And i can ensure you that you wont get good arti planets from shares(everyone is keeping them for own use, bc theya re so rare).

Cheers

Yeah my arti production is low, i'll start researching planet buildings and scanners before moving onto the second antiproton then?

I would also suggest you add more cargo space when you get artifact and mineral shipments. You'll need more space to store all that stuff. If your lucky enough to get a Mass Storage Pod or Tessaract Container in your artifact shipment, use them! You could also spend a rank point to get 5 cargo space, but their better spent on decks.