1) Intelligence is good.
2) Having an FC leading us in battle is good.
3) Sacrificing a cheap ship is not a problem if we can gain from it.
4) Stockpiles at various stations where we dont have offices is good.
and we need more pvp experience.
and I need to get my mic to work with TS, or set up a vent server.
Assuming you're using Vista running the TS client as administrator should fix your problems.
When it's running as Admin - check the push to talk settings are correct.
Generally installing TS is pretty easy:
1) Download the TS Client installer
2) Download the updated TS binary
3) Install TS from step 1
4) Right click on the desktop shortcut and Open File Location
5) Copy (2) to the location and overwrite the existing binary
6) Run TS as Administrator. You can either right click and "Run As Admin" or right click, Select Properties, Select the Compatability Tab and then check the box "Run as Admin" at the bottom of the tab.
7) Set the "Push to Talk" button
8 ) Connect to the server & join the AFK channel
9) Test that the little green lamp lights up when you use the PTT button - & you're done