Thank you for the comment. Excellent points raised. Here are some things that might make the gameplay easier:
- The ASSAULT (3) form is actually the hardest to use defensively. It comes with a dodge penalty that causes the dodge marker to speed through the dodge meter more quickly. The benefit to using it is that you are destroying the Missile Defense Units at a constant rate of about 4 enemies for every 5 seconds.
- The TACTICAL (1) form (called STEALTH in the help menu) form is the easiest to use defensively. It comes with a dodge bonus that causes the dodge marker to move more slowly through the dodge meter. The downside to using it is that it could take longer to destroy the enemies, because it never fires any weapons. It instead relies on the defensive options, jamming/hacking enemy missiles and using countermeasures, to score kills.
- The numbers on the right-hand side indicate, from top to bottom, the total number of enemy Missile Defense Units, and the total number of missiles flying in space (both friendly and enemy). This is how you know if you're making progress.
I agree that death occurs too easily, so I would probably want to give your ship some armor in the future. Perhaps the different forms would have different armor levels.