Well this has cleared up my questions as well!

i got mine to move 3 inches once with a thurster then it stoped and i cant get it to work

lmao

Well, I'm finally an expert with thrusters.
Thanks for all the help everyone.

Figured it out some time ago.
Thruster power is only useful when you put it on Full with Kiska's menu.
I've assigned it to my arrow keys. Up for thrust up, and so forth.
I find it useful for avoiding head-on collisions when I do close range fly-bys with bigger ships like the Excelsior or Sovereign.
Definitely helps me out with evading Dominion bugships that come barreling in for the kamikaze.
Again thanks.