Those are some really valid arguments I have to say.
I just went with the shield as the game felt to be too easy, but it seems that I was blinded with playing it hundreds of times in a row myself when creating the game, as well as it being the first game I ever made public.
I'll be sure to address these issues in the upcoming update to ease up the placement of the rocket pieces as I kind of like the physics of it and will up the shield amount or the amount of shields the atomic drops provide back to the player to make it more playable.
Thank you for your feedback, it is really helpful <3