Thank you so much for your feedback, it was awesome to watch you both play our game!
You were absolutely right about the tutorial/safe starting area. With more complex game mechanics like this, it is quite hard for a new player to figure out what is going on and what to do - especially in a stressful scenario.
In particular we noticed that you had trouble figuring out that you had to link units while spawning them, which is more that understandable to miss. That was probably the biggest piece of feedback we have gotten across the board.
A couple of alternate post jam versions are in the works - focused on different aspects of the design (follow bot_Mark for a polished remake of the core systems). Top of our priority list is a proper introduction/tutorial.
Thank you again for providing such in depth feedback - and persisting past the introductory learning curve that you rightfully called "obtuse".