There are probably loads of posts on this.... but IMHO best stuff that you can actually BUY (not loot, scoop etc.)
Guns - Salamanca Mk II's (best damage/energy ratio)
Shield - Class 10 Adv. Brigandine
Thruster - Advanced Thruster

I'm pretty certain all of the above can be purchased in omicron gamma, at planet crete (E5) or tripoli shipyard (D6) tho make sure you are friendly with the corsairs first.

Quick search would do no harm, the topic has been amply covered, different strokes for different folks, do some exploring, take notes and find what's suit you best

If the equipment dealer has an item in their list, and they won't sell it to you, it's not because the item is "out of stock", it's because you need to have a better rep. with the faction that runs the base... they don't trust you... you might try to use their weapon technology against them. You can either pay to have your rep. hacked, take jobs from the faction, or just kill their enemies. The more kick-ass the weapon is, the more friendly you need to be with them.

Everyone seems to gravitate to the Nomad guns as "the best", but you can't buy those, you have to "earn" them another way. However, of the guns you can purchase, the Outcast Kraken Type 2 c9 particle gun is hard to beat -- high efficiency, highest damage output (higher than most of the c10 guns). A Kraken Turret matches up with the guns nicely on a Sabre: identical range, speed, and refire rate as the guns... or, try a Corsair Rapier Turret instead, which also matches range, speed, and refire rate with the Krakens, but is a pulse weapon to tear down shields faster. The Civilian Adv. Debilitator Turret is almost identical to the Rapier Turret, but more energy efficient, and also has cool projectile gfx, whereas the Corsair pulse guns have "invisible" projectiles.

You can get the Kraken guns/turret at Ruiz Base in Omicron Beta, The Rapier Turret at Planet Crete or Tripoli Shipyard in Omicron Gamma, and the Adv. Debilitator Turret at Detroit Munitions in Manhattan or Yukawa Shipyard in Honshu.

well if you want a fast lvl 9 weapon, go for GMGs Skyblast B. 750 m/s and 8.33 refire rate. dont do that much damage per shot..but it fires rapidly

What do you mean the Skyblast B doesn't do any damage?! Sure, the Flamekiss does 400/600(S/H) or something, but the refire rate means that if you miss you don't get another shot at hitting for another half second (2.00). With the Skyblast B, You get 122/244(S/H) at 8 1/3 shots a second. If one volley misses, who cares. I've got six of those bloody things and a Skyblast B turret on my Sabre, and the only thing I don't like about them is they take 61 energy a shot. But who cares... If you can hit them for two seconds total, you win. If you go back to areas near New York... You don't even need to use all your guns. I like taking down Lane Hackers... With the turret alone. The fact that it's a Photon based weapon doesn't seem to matter much. You can get these on the Gas Miner Naha in Sigma 13. Sure, they're a little expensive, about $120k each (from what I remember, I've had them for a while), and you need to be on high neutral/low friendly terms with the base's owners, but you can fix all that right there at the station. Decent jobs. I believe I've spoken too much about my favorite little photon lasers... But the little green blurs they shoot are kinda fun.

Sometimes, whoops IS the right answer.

Bah, gimme my wimpy Banshee anyday... granted I probably can't even dent a real VHF's shields online... bah. Leave me alone.

I have an Eagle on Elite, but since either A) the account might have been lost or I'm so sick of all of the VHF, that I'm going to be different and be a level 38 guy flying a Light Fighter.

The SkyBlast B guns are fun to "hose down" your target with, but they suck down energy very quickly... and they're noisy as heck, too. And, BTW, using a SkyBlast Turret B on a Sabre in conjunction with the guns can cause problems, because the turret has a greater range than the guns, so you can waste the shots from the guns if the target is outside their range but inside the turret's range; and the turret has a different projectile speed than the guns, which messes up the accuracy of the targetting system.

SkyBlast B:
244 dmg x 8.33 refire = 2032.5 dmg/sec.
244 dmg / 61 energy = 4.0 efficiency
Range = 600m

Kraken Type 2:
586 dmg x 4.00 refire = 2344 dmg/sec.
586 dmg / 122 energy = 4.8 efficiency
Range = 700m

Now, you may like the SkyBlast Bs because they give "more chances to hit" the target, but the glass-is-half-empty view of this is that they give more chances to miss. At any rate, the numbers above speak for themselves.

I vote for the highest possible single-shot damage setup. If you're using the SkyB's or a similar weapon, chances are you'll miss...a lot. Since those things suck energy, you might as well make the energy count and control your fire - only shoot when you're relatively sure of a hit.

That said, I would reccommend one of two setups. First, if your aim is really good, I say use this:
2x TDC (Tizona del Cid)
4x Diamondback/Cereberus (any combination of those is fine, since they're identical except for looks).
If you're using a Sabre, add on a Salamanca Turret, since your turret fires forward and Sal matches speeds with the other stuff.

If you're not quite so confident in your aim, then I suggest:
2x TDC
4x Nomad Cannon/Blaster (again, don't matter what combination you use)
Sal Turret

Then, you should always use Adv. Brigandine HF Shield, Adv. Countermeasures, Adv. Thruster, and Ripper Mines.

While the Salamanca guns have a 600m/s projectile speed which matches the c10 guns, the Salamanca Turret has a 700m/s projectile speed; so it's actually a better match with the Kraken guns on a Sabre; same refire rate as the Krakens, too. Of the non-Nomad c10 guns, I prefer the Wild Fire over the Diamondback or Cerberus -- a little less damage, but considerably better energy efficiency.

There is no Kraken Turret though. You don't wanna use up another Gun slot.

I use:

Tizone del Cid (class 9)
Cannonball Missile (class 9)
Nomad Energy Blaster (class 10)
Nomad Energy Blaster (class 10)
Nomad Energy Blaster (class 10)
Nomad Energy Blaster (class 10)
Salamanca Turret (class 9)
Hornet Cruise Disruptor
Ripper Mine
Adv. Countermeasure Launcher

There is a Kraken Turret, it's class-8. The Salmanca Turret is a good class-9 turret to match with the Kraken guns, though; same range/speed/refire. Most of the turrets have a 700m/s speed, which is why they pair up better with 700m/s guns on a Sabre, and all of the c10 guns are 600m/s projectile speed.

I fully agree with nightsilver, I fly an eagle for the agility with 4xDiamondbacks and 2xEl Cids, about 5K shield and 5K hull per volley, 5 shots will kill any enemy you'll meet...

Xander

If it moves, shoot it... If it doesn't, shoot it anyway.

I use:

2x Firestalker Missle
4x Nomad Blaster
1x Skyblast B Turret
Adv. CM, Adv. Thruster, lvl 10 shield, blah blah blah

I was wondering if Nightstalker's outfit was better because of
switching skyblast turrert (refire rate 8.33) to a Sal turret (4, same as nomads)
would not screw up the aiming system. Also, I plan to replace the missles with TDC's to compensate for shield dmg.

is tha ta good plan?

The only thing the big-damage-per-shot guns have going for them is, perhaps, that they make you learn to be more accurate with your shots... but you should be doing that anyway