It's funny you say that, mining is the route I always run when I'm not play testing. As long as you buy the first and second upgrade it's pretty much a guaranteed path out of debt. It becomes basically useless after you pay off the debt though, because there's too much risk of pirate encounters. I will look into adding some more guidance as a sort of mandatory radio chatter in the early game, that's a good idea. I guess I could also consider adding a proper 1->2->3 intro that plays out over your first 3 days of play. I will look into it tomorrow!