so you are saying you would rather level up and get a full charge of 100 energy rather than level up and get a full charge of 200 energy and use the extra 100 energy towards the next level

I agree, just research Weapons and defense and hull, cloaking is most important if you are listening to the Energy strategy (sucks). Cloaking keeps you off the BT. Mostly I would be disabled everyday because of my tech. But people even if they do see me on the BT they cant see my weapons of defense or hull. So they think hmm maybe this guy is strong but maybe hes not? so they avoid me. But ive never got BT hacked or disabled for that matter. I did a quick Energy Level Blitz and im rank 94. But i went overboard with the leveling because now my tech is Lower instead of higher than most peoples. I should have stayed at level 85 or so. Now i have my own plan with research. But when i dont know what to research i go
Weapons
Energy
Shield
Cloak
Hull
Defense
Planet Construction
Logistics
all 1 tier each time. maybe 2 if the research was low for the tier. But right now i have a plan set up for me personally.
SO in conclusion everytime you level up DECKS and sometimes cargo. Put your research into Weapons and Hull/Defense. Scan, and Planet Building are a double thing if your planning to do a scan blitz like a week later. Cloak add when you think you need it. Keep your Rep at Balanced maybe higher so people dont mess with you then dont pvp just npc with only Uncommons and above.

It doesn't matter how long it takes to get full, just how long it takes to level up again. It would take quite a long time for my energy to fill naturally, but since I still level up at least once day at rank 482 it doesn't matter; my energy fills up every day. Exactly as I said, you might be weaker for your rank, but you'll be stronger than people who started at the same time, and you're not going to get disabled every day. I actually do have a Laughable reputation, but I get attacked only rarely, and the only difference it makes to my gameplay is the cost of a repair every once in a while. On the other hand, if I was stronger for my level and didn't get disabled once in a while, it would be at the cost of a few thousand energy, which would mean I couldn't actually play the game as much. I'd rather pay for a repair once a week or so, and have lots of planets to get lots of resources from, than only need to log on once every other day and have a tiny empire.

Well. I can't be bothered to argue with you to be honest, I'll make one last point.

Rank 26 with phase cannons. Most people get phase cannons by rank 50-60.
If you have phases by rank 26, your gunna 1hk alot of people.
Allowing you to do well in PVP.
And generally get more kills than if you stack energy.
But this only works for PVP.
He was disabled 5 times while he was getting started, as most people do, because of a lack of research planets.
But since he got Ions he hasn't been disabled, now with phases everyone gives him the swerve, which is how you obtain the 'insane' rep, he can kill defencive players 20 ranks higher. (I've actually seen him kill a Rank 49 Aerlen Fixer, at rank 26!).
He can NPC farm easily, even at a low rank and energy.
Basically, it makes PVP take alot less energy, allowing him to get the same number of kills, but get less XP, keeping his rank down.

This is quite an extreme method, but so is stacking energy, so I think a balance would probably do better, need I point out that this is not designed for people doing missions, or people who intend to waste 3-4hours on here a day.

Some days he just goes on to collect research and minerals, and does nothing at all, aiding that fast (but slow) growth.

Yes, as I've been trying to say, if PvP is what you care about then that works, but if you want to do anything else then you need energy. Slow leveling isn't "fast (but slow) growth" it's just slow. You have less planets so you get less resources, you level up slower so you get less rank points. If you enjoy only play the game every other day just to kill a few people then go for it, but if you like doing anything else then you'll need energy.

You misunderstand what I mean by fast but slow.
Slow leveling.
High research/rank.

It's also adaptable, just put the research into energy and you can quickly start leveling up.

Personally I would hate to level up everyday, because PVP, NPC farming, would be impossible, although, I have to thank ships like that for being a great help in the production on dominions.