Hey Horbror, thanks again for the very nice comments and indepth feedback.
I wonder if I could make the movement feel less finicky/imprecise if I lowered the ships speed and planet gravity for the first dozen or so levels. Maybe that would help the players learn to hold-down thrust. I think right now a lot of players seem to want to do quick taps on the thrust, which makes your ship handling really bad, the movement mechanic was designed to incentivize players to hold-down thrust for long periods.. but maybe the speed is too fast for beginners. Also, the game was designed for a joystick/touchpad, the movement works far easier with a controller or on mobile touchscreen.
If you watch this little gameplay video you can see what I mean -
I am holding thrust the whole time. The longer you thrust, the less of an effect gravity has on your ship.Anyways, I appreciate the feedback, you gave me some good things to think about.