So, I just played through the game, and I loved it! Here are my initial thoughts, and I'll probably add another comment at some point once I've tried it a few more times. Also, I know this game is very early in development, all of this is meant as constructive criticism because I am already having a blast with this game.
-The podracers hitting on the second turn feels kind of unfair, since you are relying entirely on getting lucky and hitting energy on your first click to armor up in time. Forced damage in and of itself is not the worst, but when it's forced damage that can be avoided based on luck it feels kind of bad.
-The scanner that shows all the 1s is waaaay too strong. Once I got my hands on it I would almost never miss a click. I don't know that I have any good recommendations for how to rebalance it though, and I think that kind of mechanic does add a lot to the game. Also on the topic of the scanner, the 1s are extremelt hard to see on the ice maps because the blues are really similar in color.
-The energy economy is thrown way off because of the energy amplifier and the mining drill. My first run I had three drills and an energy amplifier, so I could usually get my scanner up turn 2 or 3 and then get about 8 energy each turn. At the same time, those items are some of the things that made the gameplay feel best. I firmly believe that those should be some sort of upgrade rather than random item drops, either in an ftl-style ship upgrade screen or as post-boss upgrades like in monster train. I also think you should probably start with two clicks, rather than just one, because it makes the game feel so much better.
-As mentioned by Retromation in his video, there is definitely an issue where stalling and healing to full every fight is the optimal play. You also are heavily incentivised to stall to full energy before starting the next wave. I don't know if the correct answer is having the enemies scale over time, or simply limiting the number of heals you can do per combat, but I do think that this should be addressed somehow.
This game is already great, and has so much potential. I look forward to playing more of it and seeing where it goes from here. Congrats on the amazing work!
