OK first, I gotta say I am happy to see your post Blastman. For several years now I've hoped you would give Elite another go. And I bet, with the right engineering you can build a ship with fewer rails that hits way harder than your old all-rail boat did, if five rails still proves too toasty. Heat engineering is something I focus on, so I can help you there. The key I think will be to reduce the heat footprint throughout the rest of the ship so that the rails don't cook it.
The fastest way to get mats you need is to trade for them at a material trader. Inara is very useful for finding the closest one. Not sure if you're on Inara, but if not I highly recommend it. Not only does it keep track of where you are so you can find the things you want in closest proximity, but it has all blueprints and keeps track of your mats on board so you see at a glance what you might still be short of.
=1]Inara Mat Trader Finder The main problem with mat traders is the exchange rate, which is strongly titled toward the house. And then, you need mats to actually trade. Not sure what you might already have. The two main ways I obtain my mats (among some others) is
-- Investigating Unidentified Signal Sources (USS) and in particular, the High Grade Emissions. They have the highest grade mats in them most of the time. And if they aren't useful at the mo, these become your trade currency to get the ones you need.
-- Combat Sweeping. This is my term for the role I have carved out for one of my Kraits, Poison Whiskey. Configured for combat, with a collector limpet and cargo rack. I then fly it in Compromised Nav Beacons and RES sites, pausing now and then to scoop the detritus of battle. I do a little of this just about every time I log on to keep the stocks high. When categories begin to fill up I then stop by a trader and trade up, evening out the stocks and boosting the counts on the highest grade ones.
The fastest way to make dosh right now is platinum mining I do believe. But the market fluctuates, and Frontier throw curveballs at us regularly so it changes. But mining will be the ticket for quick money.
I think the bounty mission you describe is one of the Urgent Kill Order ones? I avoid those. Assassinations, bounty hunting in CNBs and RES, and combat zones (combat bonds, not bounties) are a better way in my view.
