The advantage to upgrading your ship with fake licenses would be that you don't have to run around completing small quests for NPCs, although I've personally found this much easier than collecting 280,000 pixels. Also, if you buy the first few fake licenses then decide to go the normal route, you'll still have to get up to the number of crew members you'd need normally to unlock the next tier, so your previous licenses have gone to waste.

You'll need a total of 280,000 pixels to fully upgrade your ship.

The main disadvantage to upgrading your ship with fake licenses is its cost. Unlock and complete the Erchius Mining Facility Mission which is accessed from your ship’s control panel. How do you repair your ship in Starbound Do the main storyline missions. There are 5 different ship licenses that you must obtain in order to fully upgrade your ship.Ship License. You will not be locked out of side-quests, and can still gain crew members if you want to. What is the command to upgrade your ship in Starbound Type in /spawnitem shipT8 (or replace the number with the tier of ship you want) then use the item to upgrade your ship. How many upgrade modules do you need to upgrade your ship in Starbound Once you have enough crew members, you will receive a ship license.

Once upgraded, there is no difference between a ship that was upgraded with a fake license and a ship that was upgraded with a real license. Upgrading your ship normally involves getting crew members from NPC settlements (a total of 2, 4, 6, 8, then 10) by completing small randomly generated quests for them, or by hiring penguin mercenaries after defeating Dreadwing.

Starbound how to upgrade your ship