Need advice with perks and formations

[k1net1cs]

Personally I never put anyone on a team, that way each pilot can target a different enemy.

Also, make sure to get Templar ships over at Charon; a Raptor T is a beast for a 3rd gen. ship (and cheap, less than 70k), and you can easily rake-up experience points (and credits) with it.
My favorite 'raiding' spots are XT-05, XB-15 & XB-19; just go over to the pirate stations and hit the station once to trigger incoming pirate ships.

Also, an easy way to get experience points is to raid those systems I mentioned above after getting your 4th pilot (like Che), but before going to X203 where you're going to meet Phantom or Heretic.
When you have the free time mission and got a mail from either Phantom or Heretic, don't go to X297; you can go as far as Al-Ariash, but that's it.

Why?

Because for some reason the experience gained from every kill is doubled or maybe even tripled during that time, so you can get lots of experience points even from killing novice pirates.
But at this point the Templars are already moving out of Charon and attacked Kronos, so you have to get those Templar ships before you get your 4th pilot.

Get 3 Raptor Ts for raiding in XT-05, XB-15 & XB-19, and after you have enough credits, get some Gunslinger Ts; you can't go wrong with 4 heavy gun slots and 3 system slots, and getting the Ace Pilot rank (those Gunslinger Ts are 5th gen. ships) is easy once you're on the free time mission (though in the mean time you can only drool on its specs without ever being able to use them, heh... =b).

A good 4th gen. attacking ship (if you need something in-between a Raptor T and a Gunslinger T) in my opinion is the Puma.
Not because of it having a missile slot, but because it has better speed and maneuverability than a Panther.