Well, as much as I feel the urge to throw flame, I guess I can't assume this post is a joke considering the rather long OP explaining reasoning. But bothering to make the game "too easy" would essentially reduce the game to masturbation... and that's basically the extent of my burn. However, some of the learning curve for balancing supply and fuel consumption should be mitigated by the addition of slipstreams with the next update, while ideally also acting as a sort of funnel for hyperspace traffic activity outside of the core worlds. So player both saves fuel (literally, 50% fuel use reduction inside slipstream last I checked) AND saves time by going speed 40 (I guess to make storm surfing less appealing, faster max speed), while simultaneously concentrating potential player interactions (piracy, battles, etc.) in hyperspace. So you spend less time going out, and if you have enough supplies etc. to wait out the slipstream switch, then after half a year you also speed back to the core (or where ever). BUUUUT, I will admit that it wasn't until I accidentally stumbled across the storm surfing strategy that hyperspace travel became significantly less of a chore, and I prolly wouldn't have ever figured it out without stumbling across someone else's solution.
Plus, arguably more than half of the game's learning curve relates to fighting battles and not losing the battle... especially as it relates to supply consumption. But that's partially why missions are STILL an option in the main menu (also, just legacy code), so player can jump right into practicing with some ships without having to track down a copy in the game and run the simulator (which apparently has a memory leak, so maybe avoid using the simulator if you can help it?).
So no, don't add a "too easy" option. Add a masturbation option! OK, I lied, one burn twice.
Finally:
Hey, I made an account just to post this. I started playing after watching the Sseth Tzeentch video and after hundreds of hours playing, I loved the concept, setting, and gameplay.
Kinda hard to swallow the statement "hundreds of hours playing" with your first post... but I hate Discord, so maybe you're a god on it or something.
Edit: Whoops, forgot to talk about balancing game AI for difficulty levels. I'm unsure how how balancing the AI for easier vs. harder would work, since half the games today basically allow game AI to cheat on harder levels since easier to give AI bonuses than program a better game AI... Paradox Interactive's Stellaris is a fine example of this code laziness in a large and "successful" game studio.