I'm kind of really confused on how to continue from where I'm at right now. 
I can't buy weapons and stuff or get the newest engine to go to the anomaly
The only active missions I have are those, and I did see about the Pirate Outpost earlier, but it's not an area I can access. This leaves me wondering with what to do next, and honestly if I find out I have to fully restart because I missed something I might just give up as I've already spent a couple of hours on the game. Hopefully someone has any ideas on what I should do from here. (I can't buy weapons, I can't talk to Nimhe, I can't do anything besides make more money)
You do not need a new engine to travel to the anomaly. Just bring your engine to 50%.
You need to fill the second and third "path" in the engine configuration screen for that (Theres two more rows with empty slots = the black boxes). Just put in some output modules and tunnelling modules and positron devices...
below is an image of a 100% system. You dont need any ai cores at this point.though to get to 50.
Once your got to the anomaly things develop... :)
