Hey all you veterans! I need some help/advice.

I'm currently Rank 88 and I'm kinda feeling stagnant. I'm in a Legion that has 47-50 members, depending on the week. Pretty stable, but keep to themselves mostly. Joined because a friend did.

I'm lost when it comes to what to do now. I basically do my missions, get my minerals/artifacts and do research, but I'm not sure what I should focus on. My ship is too weak to attack, since I poured things into energy and planetary buildings so far.

Here are my stats:

Size Class: Battleship
Space: 373 / 411
Attack: 435
Defense: 112
Scan: 101
Cloak: 100
Cargo: 155.8 / 265
Upkeep: 951.3K
Inergon: Energy +10%
Builder: Upkeep +-50%

Here's a list of what I can currently research:

Plasma Filtering 0/3
Zero Point Energy 1/4
Hull Polarization 0/3
Sensor Jamming 0/3
Whipple Plating 0/3
Motion Compensation 0/3
Quantum Resonance Sensors 2/3
Quantum Assembly 1/3

I know I skipped around a lot. Wasn't quite sure what to focus on. I upped scanners a little to find some new planets. I currently have 16 planets, but I feel this is low. I've discovered them, or been tipped off to invade them by my legion.

Anyone have any advice on what I should be doing at this stage? I just feel kinda aimless and I might be putting points into things I shouldn't.

Thanks!

What are your mineral, artifact, and research production levels? At level 88 you can have 23 planets, so you are definitely low. However, it is better to wait for good planets than just occupy something because you have a slot.

Research 575
Minerals 283
Artifacts 234

I set up pretty much for research at this point. Got some pretty crappy planets so far.

Well, your average planetary production is only 68.25, so I would suggest researching the next level of planetary structures, then go for a tier of scanners and try for a scan blitz. If you start at 99? chance of success, I figure you can pull in 2-4 colonization worthy planets. Focus on research and artifact planets. Money shouldn't be an issue, but if it is, go ahead and colonize a good mineral planet.

In the end, maximizing your planetary structures and overall production brings a lot of added benefits. High artifact production will reap a lot of benefits in ship mods.

I usually go for 1 mineral = 2 artifact = 2 research ratios. I have a ship much larger than others of my level because of the artifact draw.

In the long run artifact production will do more for you than anything else, but at the early levels you are probably better off focusing on research.

yeah those stats a rather low, though you didn't mention how much hull and shield you have. If you have a high energy tech level then start researching your weapons tree and start farming NPCs. You'll build your ship up much faster and better that way. Defense and hull arn't as important for NPCs since you can repair at your leisure, unlike in pvp. The most important thing with NPC farming is that you get the biggest bang for your 5 energy spent. Once your boost your attack up (at least double it, quickly) and with good energy you'll be blasting your way through levels in no time. Pay special attention to uncommon and rare mobs as they usually drop artifacts, and most of them are pretty good.

Personally I would go for the Transconduit relay before any other research. It'll increase you recharge rate significantly. I assume you have the Father relay's but if you don't get them and consider spending $20 to support Dan if your getting allot of enjoyment out of the game.
I was pretty much like you until I joined the The Dysonians. Then I re-thought my whole game play (about rank 120+/-).

My advice is carefully chose your planets. You always want an open planet slot for that shared planet you just have to have!
Join a legion that shares un-wanted planets (even bad ones) because you just might get lucky. I need artifacts and got a large rich artifact planet because it was shared. Also the legion should focus on NPC's. NPC's help you fellow legion mates and prepare you for PvP. Recently I held off and got the better of a player rank 100 above; maybe he was toying with me but for 2.5 days I had to be on my toes. You'll really appreciate the artifacts that shared NPC's drop and you'll have help killing them off. Focus on artifact production because of the rare artifacts that really boosts your game play. See thread titled "Artifact strategies" & "Artifact draws" I have over 100 draws I'm about to add to the collective spreadsheet. The Artifact draw thread has been particularly helpful. Please note the higher your scanning level is the less chance of critical hack (ie planet) thus when your off line let yourself be disabled but keep your scanning reasonable and high if your in the middle of a PvP little war.

Just my two cents -- you'll have to experiment. If Dan designed the game to cause players to have to change their methods then I say WOW! It keeps the game from getting boring. Recently I've been using rank leveling for adding decks and all other rank points for other ship improvements that I have been lacking except research and cargo (you'll get enough of those from artifacts).