I know things are not complete, and you likely are aware of some of these, but I'm still going to comment on some things I think are important for near future. Besides, there's always the chance that some of these aren't on your list.
Flinn's Ignatius description is too long to fit the card. Most of it seems to be there but the comment on explosion damage is cut off.
On the ship select I know you just started adding the stats. It would be nice to see fuel added, especially for evaluating Flinn's Ignatius.
It would be nice if there was UI showing HP & Energy Regen, especially since these can now change. I'm just starting so don't know how high it can go, but you could possibly add an icon above the HP bar for each point you regen. Or an icon with a # next to it for the amount. Maybe also add the popup messages about gaining these to the Battle Log.
I had a Refined Diamond move onto one of my ships between turns, and it kep doing damage every second or so, destroying the ship before I could move it away. This was in my first fight.
Extra Cargo Hold does not mention the name of the ship it affects in the description. At first I questioned if it was meant to affect all. Then I noticed the ship icon at the top left.
In the devlog you mention that no ship stats will be reset after battle. It does not seem like the current Energy carries over.
I like that when using Wolverine at -1 Energy, the Energy is applied first, allowing it to be counted towards the heal.
I lost to the Phantom. I kept getting bad luck with the space mines and other destroyable objects. I hit one and lost a ship from it, and the Phantom hit several, healing at times and hitting my ships others, sometimes from a chain reaction.
I am finding the Kunai to be tough to get the timing down for. The smaller arc does mean you are more likely to hit, or get close, but getting crits are harder due to the speed. I'll need some more practice.
I've decided that I should start looking at some of the other support cards. The new ships, and lack of healing between fights, means things are more serious and need more thought. This change certainly increases difficulty. It gives me new things to think about in planning my strategy and load out.
I continued at the Phantom fight. I was not expecting that. I decided to open with Ignatius, doing 22 damage.
I used the Anachronium Pills on Kunai. The change felt very minimal, if at all. I didn't exactly time it, but it did not seem worth using again. I'll need to test it out later in the practice area.
I beat the Phantom this time. It was much nicer having all 3 ships for the fight. I'm also getting more familiar with the ships, and forming more strategy for how I want to use them.
My cards were a 12HP group repair, Extra Cargo Hold for Talaria, and Remove Junk for Talaria. My HP is low, but not too bad, and I can heal that in combat. So it is +1 Max Energy, or +2 Max Energy, to the same ship... pretty easy choice. I noticed that "energy" is misspelled "enegry" for Extra Cargo Hold's description.
I messed up my healing decisions, and ended up losing Talaria. That was problematic, as my strategy was based on Flinn doing most of my damage. Thankfully, the next turn a Godrin's Stone appeared. It took 2 turns to activate it, but things would have been much harder without it.
Going through cards I saw Recycle Fuel, and figured that would be great for Talaria with so much fuel. Use that and the next turn be ready for a max power card. It gave 2 Energy. I think the description should be updated to note the limit, or it should be reworked to offer more for the fuel capacity of a ship. Still, I found that I did keep it around, as even 2 free Energy can be useful, and nothing else was demanding it be swapping in yet.
I got 2 identical unlocks. It would be nice if there were not duplicates, especially with how specific some of these are.
I forget the enemy ship names, but I died on the fight with the Doom Cannon. During the fight the UI was hidden on the enemy turn. When I continued I had my specials back, so started with Ignatius, and that ended the fight.
The lack of Energy carrying over, but HP not recovering, really sucks when you just used Recycle Self. I had not expected the fight to end so quickly, or I'd have done things in a different order.
Wow, the cards here are a tough choice. +4 Max HP for Arcania, which could use more HP due to constantly using it for Energy. +1 Energy Production for Kunai. Always a nice boost to have. And a whopping +13 Max HP for Kunai from Hand Crafted Armor. That one has to win out, but they are all nice options.
Ouch. Alpha Defender used Hexa Shot and took out Telaria in a single attack. I've started to bring along Godrin's Ring, and have enough Energy for it, so not as bad as it could have been, but still a lesson in not underestimating these enemies.
I was 1 HP short of taking a ship out. Their next turn the took out Talaria and Kunai with Hexa Shot. I had been building up enough Energy to heal. The real shame is losing that sweet Max HP upgrade for Kunai.
That fight was nasty. I finally gave up and after reviving the other 2 ships, yet again, I used enough fuel to get a clear shot and finished it with Ignatius again. I had eliminated the healer, but the rest I kept getting close, but not quite finishing them off.
My cards were Scrapped Parts, with 1 for each ship. I gave it to Arcania, as my heavy use of revive means I want to keep her alive at all costs.
As I start the next fight, I am acknowledging that I rarely use shields, but in the last fight Arcane Defenses may have been another option to get through it. Having used Recycle Self so many times, and not getting to do any healing, Arcania is low on HP right now, so going to use it for this fight, as I expect the next turn we will be getting hit hard.
Yeah, they used Fibonacci Strike and took out the shield. I did not notice how much damage it did. It would be nice to know just how powerful the attack was for future planning. The other Mobile Destroyer used Sniper's Dream, for 8 damage to Arcania. That left only 2 HP, so the previous upgrade was a good choice, and nice timing. I've found that Pravarshan does well for me when my ships are more to the left. I recovered 12 HP for Arcania using it.
The amount I have been dying, also has me more willing to use my Energy, instead of saving it. I spend all that time building it up, only to be wiped out before I can do the big thing I have planned, so I change tactics to reduce potential losses. Sometimes I will build up a reserve, and then only use lower Energy cards as I set things up, but now I'm more likely to value using the energy over saving for a potential better move later.
The next round of power attacks, there was only one of the Mobile Destroyers and an Energy Crusader. They again used Fibonacci Strike, but did so on an asteroid. I think it showed around 21 damage, so that was very convenient. I managed to end that fight at full health for all ships.
Again I got 2 of the same card. Regen 1 HP for Arcania. Keeping alive is very useful, so it is tempting. The other is +1 Energy regen for Talaria. I often use cards to boost Talaria's Energy, so normally that one would win, but as often as I am losing Talaria, having more HP on Arcania to recover Energy and revive lost ships seems like the better choice for now.
It would be nice to have a screen that shows all currently active buffs.
I haven't changed things much in a while, so here is my current load out.
Kunai: Double Attack, Therapeutic Grapple, Phantom Flower, Recharge Ally.
Talaria: Triple Attack, Fuel Shot, Phantom Ray, Recycle Fuel
Arcania: Recycle Self, Solar Power, Godrin's Ring, Pravarshan
I mainly use Fuel Shot for damage, with Phantom Ray for dealing with shields or groups. Therapeutic Grapple is mainly used on Talaria to fire off another Fuel Shot. Arcania starts most battles using Recycle Self, then Solar Power on Talaria to allow regular use of Fuel Shot.
It would be nice to be able to click on or hover over an enemy to see their name. Hover should probably be a togglable option, as it could potentially be annoying during combat, if using a tooltip over the ship. If it was at the top or somewhere else out of the way that could work for always on. On click having a popup, or toggle showing the name could also work.
And a Remorse Flower took out Talaria. I'd just used Ancestral Secrets and Solar Power, but at least I'd not done the upgrade.
I revived, moved into position, used the Grapple, and Ignatius. Took out the remaining side piece of the ship, but was not combat ending for this fight. With the shields all still in place, and the extra Energy from the Grapple, I used Phantom Ray next. With the max energy, maybe I should have reversed order of things, but I think it worked out fine. That attack removed all the shields.
OOPS. I Used Phantom Ray, moved Kunai up and used Grapple, then Ray again, but I like to be very close to use Grapple with Kunai... and got too close at the wrong angle. Hit twice and destroyed. I'd just used Recycle Self last turn, so had enough for another revive. Well, I guess that just means I can use the special again when I need it.
And another Remorse Flower taking out Talaria. I really don't like letting my ships be destroyed, but I'm starting to adapt my strategy to it.
I wasn't thinking, and after moving use Recycle Fuel, because I just though of it as using remaining fuel. It should probably be disabled after you move so you can't waste a turn on it.
They used a Doom Cannon that hit an Enemy Crate, and nothing else, with 2 of my ships nearby.
Dang, enemy HP is low, and Arcania is at full HP with 0 Energy. Do I sacrifice the health to be prepared for losing a ship, or try to ride it out... I feel like there is enough HP left for 2 more turns, so I'll probably need to heal or revive. I'm going for the Energy.
They used Destroyer for 1 damage. I used Pravarshan and healed everyone to full, so I guess it was the right choice.
My aim/angle was slightly off with Phantom Ray and only 3 hit, so the Fuel Shot would have done more. There is only minimal left in the HP bar. If all 4 had hit it as had been, it probably would have ended. I had an action left with Arcania, who was at the back. I managed to move up and get a crit with a Basic Attack and end the fight.
Ended with a miserable 49% Accuracy, and 77% on Crits.
Oh, Micromanager is a nice card. +1 Energy regen for all ships is hard to beat. The other options are 15 HP repair (my ships are at full health), and +1 Max Energy for Talaria.
Damn, next fight after a shiny upgrade is the one with the 2 Hexa Shot firing ships. And I don't have a shield. Ignatius it is!
My results (accuracy, crits, and badges) look to be identical to the previous fight, even though all I did was 1 attack.
And my unlock cards are all HP repair, for my fully repaired ships. 2 of them are even the same.
Fibonacci finally hit and took out one of my ships. Up until then, the fight had been going fairly well for me. Still won soon after. Took out 1 enemy, and the other used Sniper's Dream on something that wen boom killing themselves and doing a bit of damage to one of my ships, that were otherwise at full HP.
My results now have the Crits down to 76%, but otherwise unchanged.
When using Pravarshan, the HP bar above the ship updates, but the bottom left stats do not, until I click on the ship again.
Some nice upgrades. +4 Max HP to all ships. +1 HP Regen to all ships. And last is +3 Max Energy for 1 ship.
Not all upgrades are easy to verify, but +4 Max HP to all is, and it did not seem to apply. Several others I wasn't really sure were applying, but the ships are all at their default HP. I'm pretty sure the last time I got a MAX HP up it did not apply either.
I had another fight where I was down to 1 ship, twice. The second time was due to having no Energy for revive when it happened the first time, so only got 1 brought back when they did heavy attacks again. They partially missed on one attack, allowing me to fully revive, and, of course, end it with Ignatius.
I'm thinking of swapping out Recycle Fuel with Plasma Shield.
Alright, I think I'm ending here. Things are getting a bit repetitive, and with the upgrades not always applying, it takes away some of the fun of building up super powerful ships.
So, here are the things that stand out the most to me. Current HP stays the same between fights but Energy is lost. With Arcania this really stands out. Not being able to see the active buffs makes it hard to verify what is and isn't working, so a way to see them would be nice. If the buffs are meant to be permanent, then being revived should restore them. Some of those fights can be very tough to not lose a ship in, and it is tough to get enough HP to be able to survive some of those attacks. A shield can help, but then it almost becomes required. That leads into the special abilities. I started to not mind dying as much, since it let me reuse them. I think there needs to be a better way to allow using them again. Maybe giving them a cooldown, based on number of turns since last use, or number of battles. It could also be that they reset after a big boss fight. Having to use an upgrade to reset one feels wasteful. With ships dying the "permanent" upgrades lose some value, but dying also resets the special.
It would be good to add some UI to give an idea of any upgrades the enemies are getting, or just a rough power level based on their buffs to give players a feeling of progression and when a fight might be tougher than the last time they saw this group. A bit more variety in the fights would be nice. I know this is early and more content is planned, but still wanted to point it out as part of my decision to end it here, even though I haven't needed to continue for a while.
I think the Battle Mode is looking good. The core concept is there, and it just needs refining. The new ships are fun to play with, and require different strategy than the old ones. In a future play I'll need to consider all the ships and try with different combos to see which work well together for me. Considering how often I lost ships in this mode, I really like having Arcania as a full time reviver, and that high Max Energy is great for it.
I didn't really pay attention to the time when I started, but based on when I had last looked at the time, I probably played, along with writing this review, for over 5 hours.