New player looking for some help

[KEV1NJ]

Hi guys!
As usual, I come late (in this case really late) to the party. I just discovered this game a few days ago. It's all Larkin's fault, I was lurking on the Disciples III forums, and he has a link to TOS in his sig and something caused me to check it out.
In any case, I like this a lot. I just finished playing through the first battle of the first campaign and I have a question. I got back to HQ and noticed that almost all my training points are in the "other" category. I had like 70-90 points per jock there and only 10-15 per jock in each of the "pilot" and "combat" categories. I am assuming that it must be based on what actions you take during the battle? Does anyone have any tips on how to even this out? Thanks, more questions later I'm sure (although the guides and stuff posted above eliminated many potential questions.. Awesome work guys).

[LarkinVB]

Welcome to the show, better late than never.

As you may have noticed there are more skills in the 'other' section. Most of the time you have most points here because of more ways to gather and more options to spend.

The standard way to gather others is by successfull active scans.

Feel free to ask.

[Ghstbear]

Welcome. I don't know about others, but even if I don't post much I do play a lot. It is a complex game, it will not bore you.

[LordSteel]

To answer Kevin's question, I find that I gain more XP in piloting and weapons if I use "dodge" more in battle.  The downside is that I risk falling and making myself a big fat target.  For this reason, I don't upgrade into a heavier mech but place more skillpoints into piloting ligher mechs until I can dodge and avoid falling regularly. That helps me get more piloting XP.
 
Same with weapons.  I start a pilot with one weapon to specialize in (often using close combat) and make a lot of successfully short-range hits. These hits = XP.
 
(You might still end up with more Other skillpoints, but those can go into business, survival, medical, etc. if you've maxed out Defense, Scanner and EW.)