Depending on which country your pilot is from will determin which set of weapons your mech will be outfited with. Try changing your pilot's origin to equip your mech with different weapons.

From the main menu select Create New Pilot. From here you can rename your pilot and change other statistics.

Create a female pilot with the name "FEA MASTER!" and the nationality of Mexico to start the game with 12 fuel evaporation bombs.

To earn medals faster,simply change the difficulty level to HELL and in any mission,destroy as much buildings and mechs and successfully complete the mission. Repeat the process and you'll have plenty of medals.