1.)You unlock more NPC slots by completing certain missions.
You can have up to 8 total spaces for NPC's. The first two are found by killing the npc that spawns after each round of the zolazin mission "The Glaviz Vendetta," which drops a "Stryll Tracking Core." Use these to open the 3rd and 4th slots.
The next two can be found in the Lazuli mission "Tracing the Shipments," and are opened by using the "Tevrazon Tracer" artifacts you receive.
The final two are found in the Zortah mission "Renderer Recall" and are opened by using the "Tachyonic Renderer" artifacts you recieve.

2.)The only way to improve your odds of finding CTP is to kill more NPCs. With an energy pool of only 150 that will be a very slow process. From the sound of things it is far too early in your career to worry about killing many NPCs. You should pretty much just forget about CTP until you get stronger. Although you may collect small amounts by killing Rogue Tech Collectors. Otherwise you need to scrap unwanted modules/structures from elite and boss NPCs.

Ya Grand is right there. With such a low attack and energy pool to pull from right now you will not get any where fast. I don't know if you are part of a legion or not but if I where you I would go to the legion page here and find a legion that has either a research base or an arti base to join and grow from that. It will help you grow your ship really fast and in turn will help you do more things that will make the game more fun for you.

Also as Grand said you will not need to worry about finding much CTP right now. No legion is going to expect you to put much if any ctp into their base. Take your time and get a little stronger before hunting things just for the CTP. While I will still suggest at least a little NPCing on the side I would not waist all your energy on it as of yet.

Getting lots of ctp only realy happens when you get to pretty high ranks and can autorank off of it. However at any rank you can get ctp pretty easily by selling your artifacts you get in shipments in the trading post. ancient crystal foci, time manipulators, dark pyramids and repair nanos sell pretty well and as ancient crystals are currently going at around 10ctp each it would be better to sell those than ncp if you only have a small amount of much energy.

Excellent guide and more up-to-date than the existing ones. Deserves a sticky IMO.

Thanks. Cool guide, first time hearing about trading being a recognized path. Honestly though, the SSB isn't good for much besides pvp methinks, making me think it is a subcategory of pvp build. If you could, or whoever else is willing, please name players who exemplify each path taken.

Congratulations for your patience, accuracy of info and altruism. Tipping the hat!

I can see how you would think that but the SSB is a path of to its self. When the big time SSB players do this they do it from the start and base their whole ship around it. This would make the PVP path a sub section of this build in a way. Also you could do NPC, trading and many more things from this path just because of the massive amount of crew you would get to add to attack and energy.

Also I thought about adding names of players for each path there but I don't want to start adding names if they don't want me to. If players out there read this and know you are all about one path then let me know either here or by PM and I will add you here. Please note that I will ask you a few questions first to be sure you are good enough in that path to be added. Also note that I have done many of these paths at one point in time. The only one I have not done is the SSB. I am currently doing the energy build but I am not fast ranking with it. (Or trying not to. lol)

Many thanks for the extra info guys, especially about the NPC slots. And yes, I'll have to hold off from killing NPCs at the moment, as it's such a painful process (100 energy just to kill one!) - weirdly I have more luck killing players, but I guess that's more to do with some players maxing out their energy, so they end up as easy pickings.

I belong to a tiny legion - just two of us. And we just can't upgrade the base to level 3 because we need 250CTP, and we have no easy way to get them. So would it be better (and I'm already guessing it is!) to just leave that legion, and find one that will accept me? I'm a daily player, I will trade and battle with others if required, so I don't think I'd be a hindrance to most legions. I know when NOT to attack someone purely for retaliation; but neither will I just have my a$$ handed to me on a plate without at least giving them a b1tch slap :p

UPDATE:
Thanks for the private messages from individuals offering to take me under their legion wing.

I've now joined the DECENDANTS OF ALTAIR!

I realise now how little support there was being in a tiny legion of three, and things should be far more fun now!

Good Choice, Descendants has some cool guys over there

Nice guide. I honestly have no idea what kind of build I have but hey, this is a nice read.

Glad you liked it and thanks for the bump. lol However it is worthwhile to point out for you that you may not be following just one path. There are many players out there that follow two, three or even four paths if not more at one given time. I know I have done PVP, NPC, mission, fast rank, energy, and trading builds all at once. Many of these however tie into each other and since I am a much higher ranking player I can afford to do all of these things. Where as most low rank who start the game and read this may only really have the resources to do one or two of these paths. And with time it will grow into more. Basically your build is what ever you are working on the most right now. What do you try to get done every day? What area of the game do you want to grow more in? Do you have to use your TM limit every day? Do you try to buy more every chance you get so you can PVP some more? If so your prob a PVP build. Or do you just PVP some when you have the TM's but in your spare time do you NPC alot? Are you trying to get to the point where you can auto rank on NPCs? Is that your goal? If so your NPC build. Then say for the trading build. If you are all ways watching your money and trying to get it higher and higher and looking for good deals when you can and part of a few of the better trade groups on FB and have many contacts in which to trade with out there then that is where you are.

Sorry for the ramble but I really do enjoy this aspect of the game. lol

Thanks for writing this guide

I once was a 'hacker' but get pissed by constant disables (well, i do care ) and switching to a bit of hacker and pvp ^^

Great Guide, it help me a lot!!!

Thank You

very well written

Thanks for taking the time to write this! Really helps a new guy like me. Gets me thinking on what to focus on.

No prob and thanks all for letting me know you did read it. lol If you want any further help on anything in the game let me know. I have been around for a bit and can help with most things. If I don't know the answer I will know where to find it or who to ask for it. lol

Well as time has gone on here I started to see that there could be another path to add here. I don't know if anyone as of late has read this or if anyone really cares any more but I'm going to add it anyways. lol As allways if you have any questions or just want to talk about any of the paths or any aspect of the game just send me a PM. Also I have added this to the end of my first post which has all the other paths on it still. So if this is your first time reading this then please feel free to read the rest and let me know what you think or if you think that I should add anything else or edit any of the old ones. Thanks for reading and here is path number 12.

12. Base building: A base builder is a player who wants to have his ship built up to help rank up bases.

The base builders main focus is all about what ever legion he is currently in. These players are mostly very loyal but some may be more like mercs (path 11). These players are highly sought after in legions of any size. Most base building players are higher ranking and have a lot of energy and credits. These players can either stay in one legion that they are loyal to and put all their resources into the base. So all CTP, EM, and Energy. Or they can go around putting these resources into others bases for payment of any sort. Creds are either used to help fund the bases upkeep or to buy more resources to help lvl the base up. These players could also be decent raiders do to there large crew count. Most rank points should be put into energy.

Pros: - Very sought after and well liked in most legions. (all ranks)
- Can make a lot of money or resources from selling to others. ( all ranks)
- Get to know a lot of players if you sell to others. (all ranks)
Cons: - Can rank to fast and pass up a lot of NPC's. ( all ranks)
- Can cost you a good amount of RL money depending on how you do things. ( all ranks)
- Can take a lot of time to see any real results depending on how you do things. (all ranks)

Dunno why this isn't pinned?! I have to dig around for this info so I can share with my legion members

Thanks. Glad to know people still want to use it. lol