There are some tips to make a playthrough better without easy mode.

• hang around the first system until you get all the resources you can. there’s no penalty.
• if you’re struggling to repair the ship, increase your production
• if you’re struggling to increase your production, increase your resource gathering
• if you’re struggling with both of those, increase your people harvesting/unlocking

It’s possible and not difficult to have the ship be entirely self-sufficient with late game research. There are also some layouts and planning tools online you can find.

This game is probably more similar to factorio than Frost Punk in that it’s about resource management and production.