Is there an easier easy mode?

I wanna be able to get further than 20 minutes in to a run. Can I make my ships do more damage and their ships do less? Can I mod strike groups and missile carriers out of the game? I don't want any advice about how to get good at the game, I don't intend to touch the ship editing cause I've never been good at building in games, I just want to get further than the first two cities without getting cross-map missiled even when my radar's off and I've parked somewhere nobody would ever see me.