One way to make money and get better equipment for your ship early on is to hang out around a terran fleet. Let them fight the pirates, slip in for a shot when you can, and pick up the goodies when ships die. Once all of the bad guys are dead, get a cargo mission to the next system and, after delivering your cargo, repeat the process. Early on, your ship can't stand up to the ships you will encounter, but that is almost logical, given that you are just starting out and they have been around a while. Use the friendlies that are around to help you build up.
One other thing that I have noticed on collisions, the AI is much worse at preventing collisions when time compression is on. Just recently, a Terran carrier, cruiser and destroyer all collided when I turned on time compression to get across the system quickly. This was in the early game when I was in a Mark I destroyer. I picked up so much stuff that I was able to upgrade to a cruiser. (Well, I didn't have to write the letters home to their families....
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