Out of the Starting Area – What now?

For context, I'm a new player to space games. I've been enjoying all kinds, from the arcadey Rebel Galaxy (and Outlaw), to the twitchy rogue-like EVERSPACE, to the countdown simulator E:D (don't shoot me it's a joke =p). I got a HOSAS (T16000M duo) for it, am loving that too, and most of those titles are better off for it (tho admittedly I could use an actual throttle in E:D).

For fluff, here's my pretty thing leaving the starting area. I wanted the two seat utility ship (Adder?) but that was way too fucking ugly for me to bear.

Now, for the questions. I just got off the starting area, where I did a few different types of missions – bounty hunting, settlement tower scan (SRV and ship), courier, cargo transport. I liked all of them. I got out of the starting area with the most expensive ship and loadout from there and 300k, went out to improve that loadout further, and now I have to forge my path. And here comes the issues.

– First, I want to have a varied gaming experience. I want to be able to change mission types as the mood strikes me. But it's hard to gauge where to go to "keep to my level" (like, say, an RPG would tell you levels of areas and such) and thus be supplied with varied mission types that I can actually do (as nearby systems seem to have most of them way out of my league, while the doable ones pay very little and are mostly just courier jobs). I didn't find a station that could pretty much let me do anything like the Coelho Station does.

– Secondly, I didn't quite figure out how fire groups work. I can use everything I bought, but for some reason, all useable equipment shows on every firegroup, and so while shooting, the ship keeps telling me "wrong cockpit mode" because the scans are also there, and the same happens while I scan stuff. Any guidance on how to actually fully separate things would be appreciated. I saw there is a second column where you set primary or secondary fire, but putting anything there makes it inaccessible for me – maybe a keybind I missed?

– Third, I want good reasons to use the SRV. Is there money to be made on ground exploration like, say, NMS would reward you for scanning plants, animals and mining? Mind you, I don't have Odyssey, so the question is vehicle-only.

– Fourthly, I didn't quite understand the galactic powers mechanic and frankly why should I care or choose between them.

This is about it for now. Any help is highly appreciated.