thanks for playing!
The game designer here,
In regards to the changes to the design to make it more tactical.
the whole thing of numbers is in part Personal bias of myself towards mass being the decisive factor in battles. The AI having more command points than you is something that would help it work it's mass more effectively, but part of the problem is that as you said, the field has no terrain or organic blocking potential. Part of that is deliberate, your in the sky, but part of that is the consequence of trying to make a game on such a short time in such a small scale (8x16 is Big yes, but not that big.)
When designing I actually thought of the laser and shield units complimenting each other. Shields could reflect lasers, lasers work as area denial, which allows for you to pin down forces or force a opponent to move, as I imagined the distances in a turn would mean a lot of movement without anyone being hit. That didn't really make it into the final game, but probably post jam I'll type a document for which you could play the game physically with a alternative rule set.