I always end up misjudging how long it will take for new players to adjust to my games. I can breeze through all four expeditions myself in 20-30 minutes, but I'm glad that you had a good time as you learning the various mechanics! I'd have loved to make a short tutorial if I had a bit more time to spare. Notifications at the cursor could be a good idea, the tiles are fairly small, but I may still be able to outline the selected one in different ways to indicate what the result of your action will be.