Sadly you're correct - if you look on the profile page it will tell you what the requirement for the next level is, and every other level is mission (main story) related, so you can't buy the better ships (or go to most other regions.) Doesn't exactly live up to the free-form universe hype does it?!?!

What a gip!
So I have to essentially fight battles that I might be better equiped for if I got a better ship - that I can't buy! Nice one = not!

Yep big case of cheese I'm afraid.

Don't worry... somebody might release a mod that enables you to do what you want without the need to finish the story. I also think this is kinda silly but think about it this way. If you where to play the game and get a ship that can nock just about anybody around just imagine how empty and easy the SP part of the game will be.

I bought freelancer for the story. I am buying X2 for the open ended universe.

The ability to play when your done in freelancer is just an added bonus.

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Michael"TRAPPER"Needham
The Weak Shall Perish

...Yes sir thats right... just drop your cargo or I can open your hull with my twin plasma blasters, and take the cargo for myself.......Thank you, have a nice flight.

You don't need to do the story missions when Juni contacts you. You can still do some trading on the way to meet Juni (I recommend the Cargo Computer announced on this websites home page) or become a pirate for a while. You can also set your own waypoints for trading and once you reach the final destination, the story mission waypoints are automatically put back on the map. I had to do this a few times to ensure I had enough dosh for shield packs and nanobots, etc.