I am new to this game for the most part. I am level 35. 163 energy. 160 in hull and 112 in shield. I am getting disabled daily. How can I best protect myself?

Increase your hull defense and attack. Don't worry about shield at your level they are not as efficient use of space as hull is.

Calculating me at level 35, getting 5 rank points per level. When would be a good level to stop pumping up Hull and Attack?

The answer depends heavily on your play style. This is a game that rewards specialists. If you're onto PVP and PVE, pumping attack is a must, at all level. If you enjoy more hacking game or a defensive player, pump defenses and cloaking.

There is really no set-in-stone rules. I reduced my rate of getting additional decks after I hit lv 300; converting all 5 rank points from rank up to engineers and gaining additional decks only from artifacts. At some point in the future, I plan to covert all my rank points to tactical officers.

But whatever you do, do NOT try to be a jack of all trade. You will be beaten from all sides. Power up your attack, or tighten your defenses. Your choice.

ill disagree with that, worked out pretty well for me so far

if you are pvp centered at that level best to pump everything into tac officers till you reach around 100+, that will do 2 things for you build your attack, and increase your raiding potential, do enough disables and raids, and get yourself the protien armory, its the best hull - space ratio at that level, 24 decks for 600 hull [ assuming you have all 3 ] from there farm out red badges till you have enough for a set of dom cannon mark 1, skip mark 2 its a waste of time, unless the only thing your ever going to do is pvp.

after that get dom enough red badges for a set of dom cannon mark 3, cant use them till level 100 but you want to get those out of the way early on to avoid dealing with kironus traps.

install hull when you have the space for it, but the protien armories are your key at that level.

if your not pvp centered:

run as dark as you can, install 2 jammers, 2 cloaks, do the mission that gives you the zolazin jammers for some extra protection. at you level if they have 100 scan there more likely than not looking to hack. after your cloak is up run defenses, probably wont need alot, 2 of your best should do fine. after that is up to you.

at early game you have enough time to be a jack of all trades if you want to be, you just need to be carefull is all, good luck and happy hunting

All tactical officers and no decks until rank 100 is a tad bit extreme (and could even end up being detrimental)...Just take it slow for the first 30-odd ranks with perhaps 1-3 rank points going into Tac Officers per rank (others into decks) and raid everyone you disable.

no no, sorry for the miss-read, i meant 100+tactical officers, not 100+ rank

Ah that's not a bad tactic at all. Yeah, that was a mis-read on my part.