The starting area placement is only something that can be defined in the prototype data of resources via .autoplace = resource_autoplace.resource_autoplace_settings(data).
Sometimes you want to have different map presets where you may want certain resources to be included in the starting area and others not, for certain modes or scenarios you cook up.
So while the autoplace setting would define the default state of a resource having a starting patch, it would be great if there was a map setting to override it to be on/off like the following:
I wanted to ask of the possibility - I know how much of a potential nightmare it could be - but never hurts to ask

Cheers!