Hi guys. I've been having difficulty with this and would greatly appreciate some help. Could someone please tell me the full process? I've heard you get prompted after you spend all of your skill points, but how do you use those couple that aren't enough to get a full skill? Thanks.

Once you reach a new rank, such as Lt. Cmdr you earn a plaque from Admiral Quinn which entitles you to a free ship from the new tier you just unlocked. To get the others you just pay energy credits.

The skill point line is that you need to spend your skill points to get promoted, hence to get the new ship.

Yeah, but I advanced to lietenant, and that didn't happen. Is that a rank that doesn't get you a ship?

Correct. Ensign is just the rank for the tutorial, so Lieutenant is the first stretch of levels for you to go through.

Also note: The Skills screen...you can scroll down to access more skills.

isn't upgrading your ship like getting a new one, customizing it?

No. Ships have tiers. The higher the tier the stronger the ship. Lieutenant ships are tier 1. Captain ships are tier 4. You cannot make a Lieutenant ship be just as strong as a Captain ship. That doesn't mean you can't use a tier 1 ship at the rank of Captain, but it will be harder to win with. Also, each tier doesn't have the same kind of ships.

Okay, thanks guys. This helps a lot. I will try to become a lietenant commander soon.