To be powerful you just need a big wallet. This game isn't about skill, it's just about how many money you can put into the game. Played it for about a year kidding myself that you can catch up with the big guys without paying but you can't. The top players spend hundreds on the game pretty much every month to stay at the top. Also the ships available are very limited and most people go for federation and so everyones got the same ships. I'd give it a miss if I was you.