"how on Cradle do I make enough money to get ANYTHING"

...play the game? Elevators are free now, as you seem to have noticed. In other words, you can play more than 11 depths at a time. In other other words, your crowns are not limited by 11 depths, they're limited by infinite depths. Also, with Elite difficulty existing you now make more Crowns per depth than you could have ever gotten before-- if everyone picked up a shiny mineral before, that was what, like 50 extra crowns? Elite pays out thousands more per run. I don't see the problem here.

Also, I'm literally going to break down the alchemy things because I'm not having a great day and I'm honestly kind of annoyed by the way you put it. You have no reason to go further than your equipment can handle unless you really want to-- I'm going to list the star tiers as well as their respective Depths just for visibility purposes.

• 0-star items (stratum 1, around Depths 0-4): you're given this at the start. Proto gear is free of charge. Nothing else needs to be said here.
• 1* items (stratums 1 and 2, around Depths 0-8): This tier is pointless as it does not block progression whatsoever-- there's no useful armors from this, just use Cyclops Helmet and Fencing Jacket and wait until you get 2* items. You're required to make Hot Edge and Frost Gun to continue so this is irrelevant.
• 2* items (stratums 2 and 3, around Depths 4-13): This is the first tier of items where you actually need a full set to progress through the Hall of Heroes. Luckily, you're literally given a free Cobalt set, sword shield bomb and all, just by playing the missions. There is still nothing stopping as you have to complete all the missions to progress regardless, so this tier is not notable in any way.
• 3* items (stratums 3 and 4, around Depths 8-18): Okay, this is where things start to pick up. You have to start crafting, and things are starting to get serious. Luckily, you're given eight Advanced Orbs of Alchemy directly from missions; three from Time Enough at Last, three from Rise or Fall, and two from The Sovereign Slime. This lets you make two 3* items immediately before you even get to the next boss. After beating the boss, you'll only need to find one Orb to make another 3* item, which is very nice. This means you realistically only need one more 3* item to pass the Hall of Heroes. I would honestly say make a 3* helmet and 3* armor from your free Orbs, and make your 3* shield from the extra two orbs you get after the boss. Farm The Sovereign Slime for Jelly Gems and buy Sealed Sword, which is just a free 3* weapon-- by the time you get enough Gems for a Sealed Sword, you will have most likely found a third Orb so you can craft your shield. This tier is still basically as free as can be while still requiring a generic grind.
• 4* items (stratums 4 and 5, around Depths 13-23): Okay, this is where things really, really start picking up. This tier of items takes you in to the final tier of the game: Tier 3. Getting in to this tier is a free ride to end-game as Radiants are rare as hell and you realistically have very little reason to upgrade from a 4* item to a 5* item, so getting to 4* is basically getting to end-game as it currently stands. The problem is actually getting there-- through missions you're only given two Elite Orbs of Alchemy, which means you must farm just like the good old days! Please don't be spoiled here: three Orbs of Alchemy costs the same amount as Alchemizing used to cost, just a flat 400 Energy, so you can Crown farm if you like. Additionally, you have infinite Depths instead of being limited to eleven Depths per day (unless you had an Elevator Pass), so you can play to your heart's content. Back on the topic of actually obtaining the Orbs, this is actually quite a hard task. You need four items to pass the Hall of Heroes: a helmet, an armor, a weapon, and a shield, and since you're only giving two Elite Orbs of Alchemy, that means you effectively have to farm ten of them to pass the next Hall of Heroes. But not to worry! You can simply play Depths infinitely now and farm for Orbs. If your luck is bad, then that's also not a problem; you're getting Crowns on the side and if you really just can't find the Orbs you need then you can buy Energy and just buy the Orbs directly from the Supply Depot. This is literally how the game used to be except now you can play as long as you want and there's occasional drops worth ~133 Energy, so there's no reason to complain here. Let your natural instincts take over.
• 5* items (stratums 5 and 6, around Depths 18-28): Okay, this one is pretty simple. You're given three Eternal Orbs of Alchemy straight from the missions, allowing you to upgrade one item for free. You only need three other items, and there's plenty of ways to go about getting those-- you can farm Vanaduke for a free 5* set (literally), or you can simply do Tier 3 Arcade runs (now that you have access to these). Eternals are pretty easy to get, and honestly you shouldn't even worry from this point on because Radiants are so uncommon that your 4* stuff is going to out-perform your 5* stuff for quite a while. Just play the game and have fun! The Orbs will come on their own.

Sorry if I come off rude, I don't mean it.