That could solve the problem temporarily, but unless i could also do the same to every NPR empire out there it'd be cheating.
Having it as a game creation choice would make it less of a cheat and more of a game mechanic.
Not sure why you would want to do that for an NPR, I am guessing that it would just cause them to do less actual exploring as they have the resources they need already. Also you stated that you wanted this idea to help a human player be able to learn the game with more forgiving mistakes, as such again an NPR would have no need of such things. Using SM mode as a cheat tool is subjective as the way Aurora works means one aliens cheating is another aliens story tool.
Also if you are struggling with way that every single click you make has permanent consequences then look into using the backup tool in the install section. It lets you set yourself a save function based on a timer with as many save copies as you like.