I'm trying to play for the first time and I'm finding that random chance seems to heavily affect difficulty.  On mercury I had fireballs appear under me the moment I landed several times.  I couldn't choose a safe spot to land or avoid the fireball.  Only solution was to reload until you can get a chance that doesn't result in insta-death.  The same thing happened with the first ship battle.  The enemy appeared immediately behind me while my ship was turned away and the fight was over in .5 seconds.  Only solution was to reload until you can get a chance that doesn't result in insta-death. 

Is it possible to give the player a chance to play and remove the no-win starting conditions?