@ Goumindong: Uplifting a single ship that can punch above an unskilled but otherwise equal ship by a class or two is not enough. I tried it, and it does not affect strategic play enough. A skilled ship may kill a few more ships or die a bit slower, but the end result is generally the same as an unskilled character. This is unlike pre-0.8 where your single ship can destroy fleets. You cannot do that anymore (except maybe with quad lance Paragon, but still nowhere near pre-0.8 performance) even if you dump all points into combat. The enemy AI of 0.8 is still a bunch of dirty stinking cowards, and many ships have difficulty overcoming that on their own, with or without skills.
Actually, putting a few points into Electronic Warfare 1 and Loadout Design 3 is more effective than putting everything that is a pilot-only skill. Maybe Fleet Logistics 3 is important too for the max CR boost to last a little longer before CR times out in an overwhelming fight. (In the campaign, some fleets can have Fleet Logistics 3, and you want that so they do not outlast you!)
If an unskilled clunker fleet can outperform a flagship that puts (nearly) everything into personal power, why burn my points there instead of elsewhere that can boost either my fleet power or exploration options. Before 0.8, you could either solo everything (slow), or you match or mob the enemy with your fleet (fast). Today, player usually needs a fleet for the best results.
But that was not the point of my OP. I want to be able to spend as many points into Combat stuff as a max level NPC, and enough fleetwide stuff to match NPC fleet commander, without giving up everything else. So far, player needs to spend everything into skills max level NPC fleet commander can use (and three dead aptitudes to access the skills) to match him. Do all of these capable commanders have no other non-combat skills on the side (like Industry stuff they cannot possibly use due to their main job as a policeman)? If you want to get Loadout Design 3 (NPCs do not use that, but you are a fool not to get it), other fleetwide stuff, or any exploration stuff, you need to sack another skill to get it, and pilot-only skills are the most expendable to sacrifice, partially because they are generally weak, and partially because officers use them. Especially if the choice is one level in a pilot-only skill for you, or one more in Officer Management.