A good starter biuld is pure pulse laser Reasons being are they are highly accurate with a decent rate of fire Once you make it to the bigger enemy ships, mix 3 railguns in the center most slots ( furthest forward having a small blindspot behind it and the other 2 in line behind that one) giving good coverage for the railguns Make sure the rails are set to fire control mode and use them as needed,they can drain your energy fast, can mix plasma casters into the back 4 side slots (also fire control mode)
My mix is as follows: 4 pulse lasers (forward mounts) 3 railguns (center mounts) 4 plasma casters (rear side mounts) and the 2 slots to the very back. Mining lasers All weapons are level 2 as of this state in the biuld
For fighters I went all Shepards for resource collection. Break all the asteroids on the map then fly around collecting. Its fast and easy
This biuld is viable up to level 10 (it's a bit weak against what you face there so be ready to experiment to succeed)
When you have advanced weapons, get full autocannon; They are one of the best weapons. Also, use missile barrage T-3.