Check this out, I’ve created something similar 
I’ve comeback to Freelancer after a long break and I’m loving play it, slow but steady progress.
But I’ve noticed one frustrating thing - I’m trying to complete Prestigue Level II, but it’s hard to do since I’m missing few core weapons, but Smugglers allow me to buy ONLY DLC gear, even if there is a space for more.
This make things much harder to complete since, these DLC weapons are quite expensive. The more I have DLC the more gear I must buy. This is a bug or a feature on purpose?
If so… The conclusion is not to buy further DLC, because it makes the matter much more demanding.