The reason people find this game too hard AND too easy...

[NoSoup4you]

Is probably that winning hinges upon playing a very specific way, and if you don't "get it," your chances are very slim. The worst offender is the "drilling/probing at 10" strategy, which seems counterintuitive, but once I read about it here and started doing it, the game was way easier. Also didn't know about synergy on adjacent technology until someone mentioned it.

There's really not much room for player agency - usually there's one optimal way to proceed. I'm alright with the simplistic gameplay since the atmosphere is so great.

[MIchael Douglass]

Indeed, once I started probing at 10 (and only used a little more Fe for repairs), I have suddenly much much much more fuel.