I've just started playing Reunion as opposed to TC, so I don't know if the following applies (especially given the random seed involved in the game), so here goes:

Yep, you're stuck with the missiles. Load a game from before you did that.
In my evolution of the game, trading energy cells from Power Circle to anything in Argon Prime is fairly lucrative; Combining this with occasional ore and silicon wafer runs makes it a pretty solid earner.
Power from Queens Space to Kingdom End is also quite good.
If you're still using the M4 class ship that you get at the start and you're using a vanilla starting point (Argon race, M4 Buster ship) then trading space fuel from Herron's Nebula to the local trading station is VERY lucrative. If you get scanned, reload. If it runs out of resources, explore and support it.

I started out doing pretty much the above; space fuel got me enough cash for my first freighter, and casual power/ore/silicon runs around the Argon system got me the rest.

Thanks!

I will reload an older save.

I think I will have to try the 'illegal' route for a bit. I still have the default Mercury with only 3000 units of cargo. I will go and start filling it up with some space fuel

Cheers!

Just a word of advice- for those new to this series, I strongly suggest playing x3:terran conflict instead of x3: reunion. It's FAR MORE user friendly, but not dumbed down.

PG,
I was about to ask whether I should get X3:R in addition to X3:TC. Should I just buy the latter, as it seems it will give many hour of gameplay? What will I miss if I forgo X3:R, or indeed some of the earlier games in the series?
Reason I'm asking is that X3 Gold is retailing for about $30 on Steam.

You might be interested in this

cool! x3:tc over x3:renunion anyday of the week.

The Super Box is a good deal, but I don't think there's time for more than one game unfortunately...

good point- you are correct

I just bought this two days ago and my first time inside the game I just stared at the screen...huh...turned to my lil girl and girlfriend...clicked quit. This is going to take time to learn, have I made a mistake...

Quick question - is this game playable with mouse and keyboard, or does it need a joystick?