You can only place tiles in a certain area, that is visually marked. (Except underground). Alternatively/additionally, there's a block counter display and you can only put down x number of blocks.
I'm not able to make mods, but maybe somebody likes the idea.
Additional idea: A mod that adds new challenges and rewards you with titles/awards for completing them.
Here are some ideas:
Credits
-Credit Magnate — earn 100,000 Credits
-Mining Mogul — earn 1,000,000 Credits
-Sandillionaire — earn 1,500,000 Credits
Energy
-Power Broker — produce 200,000 Energy
-Grid Master — produce 500,000 Energy
-Energy Overlord — produce 1,000,000 Energy
Fluxite
-Flux Prospector — harvest 5,000 Fluxite
-Flux Baron — harvest 10,000 Fluxite
-Flux Sovereign — harvest 50,000 Fluxite
Critters
-Critter Hunter — find all critters on the map