So I've used the search function and I'm reasonably sure I know how to allocate skill points, but my info says I have over 150,000 unspent skill points. However, when I try to allocate them in the skills tab, it says they aren't there. I'm at Commander 27, and it says I need to spend so many skill points to become a Captain. With what I've spent (ground+space) plus what I have as "unspent" should be more than enough to cover it, but I don't see any place to do that. Can anyone help?

Possibly you have been alocating a lot of skill points to space skills and neglecting ground ones?

There is a minimum amount of points you must spend to unlock the next tear of skills and there is a minimum amount you must spend in ground before it will let you spend any more in space.

There is also a minimum amount you must spend in space skills before it will let you spend any more on ground, but i dont think that has ever been an issue for any one.

There's a UI bug - outside of the skill window, there's a few places that show either total skill points or something unrelated and calls them unspent skill points.

The skill window itself (default key K) is accurate, though. If you have a lot unspent there, it's probably the space/ground split. You need to spend at least 15% and no more than 25% of your points in ground to advance, if you ignore a tier of ground skills it's very easy to hit a dead end with space skills.