Ironcast

TIPS TO START ON THE RIGHT FOOT :)
- Early on you'll want to focus more on shields than your evasion, Even when the enemy comes with high damage energy weapons having high shields will mitigate a good percentage of that damage. Also taking out said high damage weapon is a good way to render the enemy unable to do damage to you.
- Drawing out the fight as long as you can so you can get extra matchs from the board, more matches leads to more scrap and XP which means you will have more abilities+more health to take on the final boss. That said be sure you have the situation under control before you attempt this otherwise the extra damage you take (and thus have to repair) will undermine the point of drawing out the fight!
- Conversely you want to have a high Evasion stat as get closer to end game as it'll be near impossible to mitigate every little bit of damage. By the time you reach this point you'll hopefully have both a good shield AND a good drive system so you should be using both in tandem anyway.
- The game is much more luck based than any other Rogue-like out there, there will be times where you simply cannot win due to how your gems fall or your enemy simply got good luck and hit you through your 40% evade chance while you coulden't get a hit in because the bastard is able to keep both his shield and evasion maxed for 6 turns straight. Try not to get to frustrated although it'll probably happen.
- The best general use pilots are the first (Powell) and last (Kylock) as they let you manipulate how much energy you need to active your shields and drive systems.The best general use Ironcast is actually the first one (Dunraven) if you want to think of it in the Faster Than Light sense you start with the Kestral thinking "wow i want to use these other ships, they look cool!" but then after using them you find out "oh wait, the Kestrel is probably one of the best ships in the game!" Kylock in particular can be a beast if you get the ability that lets you change nodes to energy then use that to max out your evasion early on in a fight for super cheap.
- Whenever possible, your first turn should accomplish the following, in descending order of importance: Bring up at least two levels of shield, get an overdrive, fill up your ammo, fill up your energy, fill up your repair.
- Whether or not you make that massive 10+ symbol match should depend on how confident you are that you can win in the next turn or two without the wasted resources. If you can, the extra XP is great. If not, you're probably better splitting it into two matches.
- Try to keep your shield at maximum at all times. Just about every mission gives you plenty of time to play defensively, which will save you a lot of scrap in the long run.
- Sometimes, waiting to fire for a turn to let your opponent's shields lower a bit is the right move. Especially if their shield's in overdrive.
- Don't bother wasting energy on your drive until you're getting at least 10% dodge chance per level.
- Scrap should always be used first to repair first, then only after build parts.
- Don't waste scrap on building a part unless it's either rare or at least two ranks above your current. The exception is for even halfway decent Dense Shields, which are worth their weight in gold.
- Survival missions are never worth it.
- Passive perks that reduce resource usage or give you more are almost always the best option. I'm especially fond of the "1 free coolant per turn" one.
- Active perks are much more about personal play style, but Ammo Leech is never a bad choice.
- Rapid fire weapons have way higher average damage, but single shot weapons are necessary to punch through shields. Always have one of each, ideally in whatever type (energy or projectile) that your character is best with.
- Don't forget that you can target specific areas by clicking the little crosshair on the right. Generally, your targeting order should be something like Shields > Single shot weapon(s) > Armor > Drive > Other.
- As an exception to the above, when fighting a boss, aim for shields and their highest average damage weapon. Don't bother shooting at anything else.
- Salvage missions always give you a free part or HP boost if you succeed, at the cost of limiting your targeting and weapon choices.
- The second ironcast has a very good ability, especially paired with the first pilot, and together they're a very good choice for a new player.
ENJOY THIS GREAT GAME!

I bought the game a long time ago and often find myself coming back to it. Sure, the RNG aspect can make things challenging, but there are ways to prepare for and work around it.
Hint - select skills that can help you get out of situation when RNG makes you stuck, since RNG may have you killed even with best equipment. And having the best equipment isn’t essential in the beginning. However, if you manage to survive, you’ll have the opportunity to acquire it later turn or two before bosses. Careful planning is key.

Tl;dr 20 hours well spent. I enjoyed playing the game and felt satisfied by the story's ending.
PROS:
- A very enjoyable gameplay loop (especially if you enjoy hurling profanities at the screen because RNG has humped you yet again).
- Very enjoyable if you like to figure out the systems and optimising your approach both on the strategic layer and during matches.
- The setting is complemented with well-chosen music to create a great atmosphere.
- The story is pretty good and I found the ending to be very satisfying.
CONS:
- If you hate RNG, don't bother with this game. All the rewards are random and it takes a decent amount of luck to end with a strong enough combo to defeat the game.
- The third character (the second unlockable one) has a pretty worthless ability so she can only be chosen for the sake of a challenge or 100%ing the game.
- due to a certain type of mission with very valuable rewards, I felt forced to choose the weapons which don't do splash damage to other systems.
- as far as I noticed, the choice of missions is the same every time, so replayability is fairly limited.
- the game is not very well optimised. I kept experiencing frame rate drops after playing for a while which I could only fix by restarting the game at the next save point. My rig can run BG3 fairly smoothly so it should be able to handle a game with 2D graphics and match 3 mechanic.

Good game, although tiring in the long run and not particularly encouraging for further attempts. RNG can be irritating + there are some unmissable unnecessary animations.

Great game all around. I was wary of the 'Match-3' mechanic being present in the game, but it is really used differently here and the game has so much more.
It it basically a Roguelike, tactical, turn-based, Match-3 game (in that order regarding the importance of my 'tags'). It will not be for everyone, but if anything above tickled your brain, at least try it out.

I had a lot of fun with this one, the story was engaging as well.
Since it is a match 3 game, RNG is absolutely a thing. Outside of that I felt the challenge to be fair and it felt good to score those satisfying wins when you wreck the enemy mech.
Art style is good, music becomes a bit repetitive after a few hours, but wasn't a huge deal to me personally.
The 100% was a bit of a slog though and I found myself tired of the game after that. Before then, I got my moneys worth out of it. Price feels good (13 euros as of writing this).

could be much better yet one enjoys the story