Cruiser Command

In my view the person responsible for moving minerals to refining is very, very bored. Optionally he can run to make upgrades, but It still make him kind of a slave.

My idea: On the top deck you have a LONG tape which moves the minerals from the drop point to the refining but does so slowly (about 30 secs). Nobody needs to do this but when he does, it's just much faster. Or you can me the drone do this. The point is that you can have +1 crew member just making power management and upgrades or +1 pilot. And It's not so boring any-more.

My solution to refining boredom (aside from drones) is to have the navigator -- who is often running a parked cruiser for much of the game -- sprint to refine a full inventory of minerals and go ping again. Repeat.
It is tedious, to be sure - but I have found the constant motion and efficient execution to be both rewarding for the team and keeps you busy throughout the early game phases. Mid game, I'll get a drone to do the refining job since we need pings and potential weapons support (again, 1 person can do both) while upgrades quickly becomes a full-time job until they are complete. That is, of course, if your economy is rolling with the intelligence and efficiency a good crew can bring.

Hope that helps.