My favorite legion is still the dual gauss cannon, bombers, and either 4 of 5 medium missiles. It has absolutely fantastic long ranged pressure and kill power and is used very well by the AI. I know, not your kind of ship though as the medium missiles are quite ammo limited.
For the XIV I just slapped on 5 HVD's and 2 squalls... lazy of me, but I was short on other weapons at the time (strangely, but I was exploring) and it worked out ok for an AI captain so I never bothered to change it. I'm currently flying an SO Dominator and am still cackling with mad glee, so haven't brawled the XIV this version myself.
Re: Commission. I've found myself wanting one more for the ship/weapon availability, but of course comes with the price of
more victims faction enemies, which can be a threat. The extra money certainly wouldn't hurt however. I haven't done a very money focused playthrough this time around either, mainly enough bounty hunting to support wandering around exploring, and money was pretty tight early-mid game (did not have a commission).
Re: needing colonies to kill bounties: not my experience so far to be honest - for me its the exact opposite. I kill a bounty or two to get the 500k for the next structure (but then again I
just got my heavy industry online, so maybe this will change).