Starting lives 1UP (default is "4");

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
6316			LD A, $04
$6317	$FF (or whatever you want it to be)	LD A, $FF	^^

Starting lives 2UP (default is "5" / which due to how the code works, is "4 lives"+1);

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
6324			LD A, $05
$6325	$FF (or whatever you want it to be)	LD A, $FF	^^

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
65D6	$3E	LD A, $05 ; Set A=$05	LD A, ($5D35) ; Fetch current ActivePlayerNum_Fuel_Pods for level
$65D7	$05	^^
$65D8	$00	NOP
$65D9			INC A ; Increase ActivePlayerNum_Fuel_Pods by one
$65DA			LD ($5D35),A ; Write back the updated value

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
65CE			LD A,(IX+$02) ; Fuel Y co-ordinate
$65D1			CP $B0 ; Has the fuel reached the ship yet?
$65D3			JP C,653F ; If not, continue dropping the fuel pod
$65D4	$D6	JP C,65D6 ; If not, fuel pod deposited correctly!

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
61B3			LD A,($5DF1) ; A=ActivePlayer_Lives
$61B6			DEC A ; Decrease by 1...
$61B7	$3E	LD A, $05 ; Set A=$05	LD ($5DF1),A ; Write the new value back
$61B8	$05	^^
$61B9	$00	NOP
$61BA	$00	NOP	JP $70A4

Address	Poke/ Alteration	New Code	Old Code
706E			LD A,(IX+$06) ;
$7070	$00	LD A,(IX+$00)