So I'm wanting to make a young, brash stereotypical hotshot type of pilot but I'm very much wanting to make him a expert at modifying his fighter to have a rather large amount of weapons and be as deadly as possible.

Ideally I would like him piloting a KST-100 since it isn't much larger than a regular fighter and comes stock with 4hp, 6hp with Custom Loadout, and I could get away with piloting it "solo" if I have an astromech co-pilot but worst case scenario I'll shoot for the Z95 Heavy as his signature ship, as with Custom Loadout he'd be sitting at 3hp to customize it. Definitely would prefer the slightly larger but far more easily modifiable(and therefore more armaments/armor/speed) KST-100 over other options but if someone has a better suggestion I'm open to hear them.

I know I definitely want Modder and Rigger, but I'm unsure which should take priority over the other and I'm unsure whether I should go with Hotshot, Operator, Gunner or Pilot as my "base" spec. I plan on eventually(when I can comfortably afford it) picking up both the Avionics cybernetics and the gunnery goggles. As for race, I'm debating between Human, Duros and Sathari and can't decide which.

Any and all advice is welcome! Thanks in advance!

Take a look at the ace hotshot spec.

Sounds like you need to prioritize. What you're describing is a pretty mature build (i.e. high-XP). In this system it's difficult to be good at several things simultaneously. Start by getting your Agility as high as possible, as it's going to affect the dice pools for several relevant skills.

Personally, I'd start with a piloting spec and build toward a Dedication and some defensive talents to keep yourself alive. Along the way, you can develop a propensity for repairing and modifying your own ship (thus purchasing into Rigger) and for doing really devastating things with your weapons (buying into Gunner).

Hotshot does a little bit of all of those, but not in as much depth. Hotshot personifies the philosophy of "go big or go home," with regards to both success and failure. I think the Hotshot spec is really thematic, but it's not really my type of character.

Operator is my favorite pilot spec, as it is the OFFENSIVE pilot spec ("pilot" is the well rounded mostly defensic pilot spec, hot shot is the show boat pilot spec, squadron leader is the leadership pilot spec, but when you want to nail someone @$$ to the wall with a single spec you want the operator for starship combat), it also has great signature abilities for when you're on the ground (for space sig abilities you may want to have the ace career, but I prefer the bounty hunter set of career skills), and it is the only way to get the offensive driving talent. You can get 2 ranks of defensive driving from a fairly inexpensive dip into squadron leader and the synergy between offensive and defensive driving is amazing. Starting with an eote spec justifies staring with an eote ship resource 120K or less and the kst-100 is 120K. But I would definitely go rigger before modder. 4 hp are plenty to start with, especially when the kst-100 is a perfectly serviceable ship WITHOUT mods. Biggest deficiency is the "meh" 2 armor and rigger can help with that if I recall.

But if you really want to be a star fighter and everything else is secondary, and money is no object, take a look at the aggressor assault fighter in no disintegrations.

There are a ton of great ships. Kst100 looks great, aggressor assault fight is also great. And one that is frequently overlooked is the modular fighter from special modifications.

8 hp without custom loadout. But it is very basic. No shields(+2 hp) no hyperdrive(+3hp)