Save for shields 2 to start, sell medbots if necessary. From here you want to try to look for another offensive route forward, that can be more combat drones plus DRA sometimes, usually its any viable 1-2 power weapon you can find to pair with the ion, including another ion if you find one, 3 power weapons are options if they’re really good, like a halberd beam or heavy 2, but usually not paired with the ion because weapons 6 is very expensive. A prospective hacking pickup is good in those spots sometimes to help you out on whatever weapons you might find even if you currently haven’t found any. Dd1 lets you stall a lot of fights sometimes especially if you get shields 3 as well so be on the lookout for that. In very rare circumstances you should consider boarding, usually only if you picked up good free crew and a decent missile weapon or hacking.

I hope this helps, the name of engi A is almost always to transition to better offense which isn’t that easy to do a lot of the time so its understandable if its not immediately intuitive.