Cheats:
Easy way to level shield skill:
To level the shield skill early, you must power off the shield's subsystem and
power it back up during a battle with an enemy. You will gain exp every time
the shields power on and you can achieve max shield level very early in the
game doing this.
Infinite Ships:
Normally, the game will delete your autosave and stop you from continuing if
your ship is destroyed. To get around that restriction, you can find the game
folder in Windows and make a copy of the continue.sav file on your desktop or
some other handy location. Then if you play the game and lose your ship, you
can simply copy that spare file to your game folder and try again. You can
repeat this as often as you like, but remember to always use caution when
anipulating such files or you could lose progress unexpectedly.
Power Level:
Your crew members gain valuable skills while they are in combat. Use this fact
to your advantage and prolong combat when your enemy is unable to damage your hull.
-=A few tricks=-
If you have a low-level weapon that will not damage the enemy's hull keep firing
(so long as you are not in danger). Your crew gain's experience with every shot.
Disable the enemy's engines to maximize your combat time. This way they will not
be able to escape.
If your enemy is unable to penetrate your shield just sit tight! While they
futilely attack you your engine, pilot and shield crew gain experience.
If you have a cloaking device be sure and enable it when the enemy fires - even
if they can't hurt you. You gain skill from dodging.
Cycle your shields during combat. So long as your timing is good you won't take
damage but the crew member manning shields will receive a small boost.
If you encounter combat in an asteroid field after destroying the enemy ship,
don't jump! Remove your pilot to drop your evasion to 0%. Every asteroid strike
that hits your shield will give your crew manning the shield 1 experience point.
On average you can max your shield crewman in 10 minutes.
Avoid Ion Shield Damage:
If your enemy is attacking with an ion weapon, consider letting your shields down. If it hits the ship while your shields are up they will be reduced in power for a few seconds. If, however, it goes through your shield it may hit another, less crucial system (or even an empty room) and your shields will be undamaged.
Easy way to level shield skill
To level the shield skill early, you must power off the shield's subsystem and power it back up during a battle with an enemy. You will gain exp every time the shields power on and you can achieve max shield level very early in the game doing this.