Hey Aaron, thanks for much for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I should have made it more obvious but the split mode is basically multiplayer mode :) And to fix a node, you just shoot it with your character's beam, no minerals required (minerals fix the ship's hull).
Definitely seems like the tutorial needs work and yeah, fixing the clumping enemies is on my list already haha. I'll also make a note about the beam position, that's great feedback and something I hadn't thought of, thanks!