It doesn't take very long to re-balance if you think you spent too many points in one spot. Just lvl up. =D

exactly. to survive the 1-20 levels i put like 2 pts into decks and 3 into crew. now i put on average 4-5 decks and 0-1 cargo.

it takes up to lv 20 to reach the tech that matches crew strength. those points in crew are not totally useless. you can remove modules and still have decent def and att stats for a while. and if raiding is improved like i hope it is, then you may need to add more crew to compensate if you re-started and added decks only etc. every ship is going to have an area weaker/stronger than others. for instance my ship is (if configured correctly) is very strong in combat and has average crew levels to prevent raids. my weakness is my def against hacking. my solution so far is just to kill all the ppl who hack me.