Some questions that should hopefully help clarify your goals. Here we can define "content" as some encounter, typically fighting a station, that inflicts some economic damage on the player (damaged armor, spent fuel and ammunition) in exchange for providing loot, which may be sold or, occasionally, equipped.

* What percentage of content at a given level is the player expected to need to clear, in order to get the money/gear they need to handle the next level of content? If this is low, then the game is easy: difficult content can be skipped and the player can climb the power curve by cherry-picking easy encounters. If this is high, then the game is hard: the player must engage with more content, even difficult content, or else fall behind the power curve.
* What percentage of the rewards from a given content instance do we expect the player to spend on recouping the costs of that content? That is, repairing armor, refuelling the reactor (including time spent flying to/from the content), and replacing spent ammo. Again, if this is low, the game is easier than if it is high.
* How do we want that recouping of costs to break down, in terms of fuel, repair, and rearm costs? The longer a fight takes, the more fuel dominates the cost. The more expensive armor and ammo are, the more they dominate costs...but if they are too expensive, then the player may decide to rely on shields and ammoless weapons, which cost in terms of fuel instead.

No matter what you do, some playstyles will be more advantageous than others, in terms of getting ahead of the power curve. The game provides too much freedom to get the kind of tight balance you see in many roguelikes. This isn't a bad thing; players like having the freedom to tackle the game in many different ways.

In the past, at least during 1.01 days, I have been annoyed how quickly fuel drains from full to empty. I have not played more recent versions enough to know if fuel consumption rate changed significantly enough.

Traveling time with shields on is a significant drain on fuel. But, for me at least, attempts to save fuel is offset by armor damage due to no or minimal shields ready when ambushed by random encounter. NPCs do not travel with shields off, and with unlimited fuel, they do not need to.

With changes to solar items, I do not bother with sun-camping for reduced power use. Or rather, I do not purchase solar armor purely for the solar benefit. I may install a solar panel if I find one and have a free slot, but that comes off when I need a free slot later. With solar items out, that leaves free fuel at CSCs and cheap refuel from Pilgrim's Aid.

Pilgrim's Aid uses one attitude point for their services. All player needs to do to gain one attitude point is to donate 750 credits worth of fuel. As of 1.8b5, that is equivalent to 30 helium rods or 5 helium assemblies. 2 pteracnium rods is good for 3 points. Player who knows how Pilgrim's Aid works can donate that much fuel then visit the Pilgrim's Aid to refuel a high-end reactor for only 750 credits. In adventures with Elysium and jumpdrive, player late in the game can easily warp to Eridani or Heretic (via jumpdrive to Elysium), visit Sisters, donate a token amount of fuel, then use Pilgrim's Aid for the payoff.

In fairness, by the time you have a jumpdrive you really ought to be prepared to win. If you dove the endgame to get a jumpdrive (and the money to install it) then went back to where you're "supposed" to be and abused it to get ahead of the curve...I don't really see the problem. Players with advanced game knowledge are going to know tricks that let them get more than they're "supposed" to be able to get. The main concern is if this is one of those "I don't enjoy doing this, but I feel I have to because the game rewards it" kind of scenarios.

It does seem reasonable that the attitude drain from Pilgrim's Aid should be proportional to the cost of the services provided, though.

Jumpdrive can be acquired from Thor's anywhere in Ungoverned Territories if player is lucky enough, although recent level scaling inventories means it is unlikely to spawn in level 4 systems (e.g., one system after St.K's) like in the past. Jumpdrive exploitation may not be possible early in the game, but it is hardly restricted to endgame when final battle is imminent. Basically, jumpdrive can be acquired as early as when player collects enough slave coffins to attain all Domina powers.

But even without jumpdrive, or in Eternity Port where Elysium does not exist, if the Sisters spawn at a convenient place, player can stop by and exploit Pilgrim's Aid (for fuel or repairs) at 750 credits a pop by denoting fuel looted from enemies. That is almost as good as free fuel from CSCs later in the game when refueling at other dock services is expensive.