The jetpack it a whole new world. Being able to pick locks is kina a must too. Persuasion is definitely one you'll want to invest in if you want to just talk people into doing whatever you want shy of shooting themselves in the face.
Persuasion can be great. I've talked my way out of fights I didn't know I would be able to. Or talked my way into bypassing sections of quests that might have been time consuming.
Whichever perks you like, try to go broad, rather than deep, into any skill group. Not only is each perk level gated by its own skill test, but many skill benefits (like ship building) are level gated. And the best perks in each skill group require multiple levels of perk investment in previous skill group tiers. If you choose a selection of lower level perks from each group, you are always making progress on something, and never waiting for a single perk to be available.
I think the persuasion skill is really useful through out the gameplay, espacially at the beginning. you can gain time and save ammo. Security and wealth were useful to have. A point in boost pack is fun too. I did not invest in exploring or crafting since I didn't engage much in them. Later, investing in pure DPS was profitable too (ballisitc/energy, pistol/rifle, etc). If ship building is your thing, piloting and ship design later on is also nice.
Consumables can be handy if you know a big persuasion is coming. I just check how many "points" it takes too convince the npc and don't take any unnecessary risks. I've done a quest line pretty early on that unlock me the manipulation skill early. It gives you an additionnal choice sometimes with safe-ish big points. There's also a skill to unlock the choice to bribe I think. didn't invest in it (i want money!) but it is still a possibility.
Started a new character recently, boostpack 4 by level 4. It’s such a game changer, and you get to RP as a boost assault soldier (which btw is wildly effective, just grab a shotgun and go wild).
Get a broad spread of basics early. There's a lit of Bethesda things you need to pay points for so get them, theft, stealth, pilot, targeting, boost, a couple of combat skills, maybe welless. Then start adding based on RP and what you want to do better.