Want a good ship? Great weapons? Lots of money?
Say no more!
The best way to start off if you're really looking to roll the cash in is to fight as much enemies as you can and fill up your cargo hold with their escape pods. Go to your nearest prison and sell sell sell! You will make millions! ONE ordinary fighter (corporal) gets 30,000 credits! The prices can go from 30,000-100-whopping thousand for ONE FIGHTER! Once you've got your millions, head over to the Custodian system and go exploring, you can find great VHFs but i recommend the classic vanilla one such as the Titan (my favourite) the Eagle and the Sabre. You'll find all kinds of shield upgrades, thrusters etc if you explore enough...but it all starts with the money!
Easily found prisons:
