erm... I would advise not doing any battling/exploring till you get a handle on how much money is a good amount to have... if you look in the manual there is an upfront cost for the building of the ship, but then on top of that there is an upkeep cost charged each turn you own the ship
now i createated 2 battle ships,
not in debt ,
serched for a planet not in debt,
disbanded them,
started reserching ,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!100K in debt how did i get in debt?