You can save scum! In Windows, your game file is in the %localappdata% (you can right-click on your start button and then choose "Run", type in %localappdata% to go to that folder) under "Ironcast" and then a folder with a number on it. You can copy/paste back and forth so if you have a good build but a bad battle, just quit and paste your files back in for a chance at better RNG.

In the first half of the game (up to the first boss) shielding tends to be what I go for as a defense. Once you're up to that first boss though, evasion becomes a major factor as opponent weapons tend to far outstrip even the best shields. There are times when I'll choose to activate drives over shields if the energy nodes aren't there for me. Don't ever buy a new drive unless you get at least 30% for your money and ideally you need at least 40%. The highest I've seen is 48% though there may be better rare variants. Scrap is a valuable commodity and you don't want to waste it on small upgrades.

The first mission is always a "gimme" that you should win easily. Just take the one with the highest scrap reward.

You need to understand penetration and splash damage. The damage per shot is the main indicator, and it needs to be higher than your opponents shield level to do anything. The heavier guns - missile launcher, shock coil, and heavy cannon are designed to get through shields. The first two have splash damage, which will do smaller amounts of damage to the non-targeted systems and likewise must be higher than the shield to do anything. Even if you lose the splash damage it's worth punching through, especially if you can knock the shields down entirely.

There are missions where you want to take a system from your opponent, which means you need to win without damaging that system at all. It's easy to make a mistake with these and lose if you're not paying attention. Splash damage becomes your enemy UNLESS the shields are high enough to mitigate all splash damage. Even this comes with a warning though: If you're on the last shot to take down their shield (assuming that's not the system you're trying to preserve) and you get an overdrive, you may well wind up doing splash damage with the extra shot. Likewise check your augmentations to not use anything that reflects back to your opponent. The system you get from these missions will always be better in some way than your current equipped systems - not what you have blueprints for. Let's say you get a free gun but have a high damage and low damage one equipped, it may well just be better than the low damage one. Or a drive might not be as fast but uses two energy instead of three.

Pay attention to what guns your opponent has. The lighter guns that accumulate damage with multiple shots can sometimes be out-shielded. If you're lucky enough to have an opponent that has two light guns, you may be able to shield up and remain stationary the entire battle and not take damage. In fights where you may be choosing to stick around longer (we'll talk about that later) this can be very important as the risk vs. reward may be too high if they have a heavy gun.

Coolant is a huge, huge deal. To get through a run properly you will need at least one augmentation to help with it. Sometimes it's better to take one over something you really want because in the long run it will help you more. "Ammunition efficiency" to reduce the cost to 2 may well be the best in the game, but you will blow through coolant as you take those extra shots.

Blueprints only come from dead enemies, and the more blueprints you get the higher the probability that you'll find something nice. Choosing a battle against two enemies and defeating both will get you a lot farther than a survival against a foe that you don't have the firepower to beat. The missions where you collect crates can be helpful as well because you'll get a new enemy every time you defeat one until you've hit your quota. I intentionally don't collect very many until I'm at least on my second opponent, then I'll evaluate how much damage I'm likely to take if I take them on. The mission ends as soon as you get that final crate so you can often decide it's time to retreat and get the last ones you need.

The "weapons jammed" mission where you need to collect three crates to get your first weapon working has two things to think about that I'm aware of: If you have a light weapon in your first slot, swap it to a heavy before starting because you may not have the oomph to get through their shield until you've gotten another three. The cool perk to this mission is that your ironcast will be repaired for free at the end, so you don't need to worry about damage costs as long as you win. If you don't defeat the enemy in time you will be in the worst position though, not getting any blueprints and paying for your own repairs.

Normalize swapping stuff around as you get farther into a run. You can check the missions available to you then back out to the workshop. I sometimes make changes or even buy a new system based on what I'm going to face. Example: I got the crazy missile in the attached save file (shown in the screen shot) after buying a different gun that had over 300 damage then taking a mission to get a free gun.

Guns and their accuracy: Every gun always hits if your opponent isn't moving, but once they are I've found there is some definite variance.

The pulse repeater is the best overall if you need at least one hit (say a system is down to 20 and you really want it knocked out), as it has high accuracy and will give you at least five shots. It's among the lowest for damage per shot though, so you're looking for low shields. They are readily available in over 300 damage in the late game and is my personal favorite.

The heavy cannon is right up there with the pulse repeater, but with only two shots it will hurt more if you miss. Really high damage heavy cannon seems to be rare, for what that's worth. I don't often see one higher than 256 or so.

The missile launcher is a step below in accuracy but I consider it the best overall weapon in the game as getting a high damage one is on the easier side. Overdrive means your single missile becomes two, so the possibility well over 600 damage with one shot is real.

The shock coil is similar to the missile launcher though I believe it has less splash damage. The accuracy is in the same ballpark as the missile launcher though I think it's a touch below. These also don't come with high damage all that often from what I've seen, so I typically only use one if I get it for free.

The light cannon gives you five shots of medium damage with decent but not great accuracy. It's hard for me to feel anything but "meh" about it, yet it's also solid. I'm not sure the max damage they go to, but they also seem a little on the lower side.

The shotcannon is the worst gun in the game from my point of view. It is an "all or nothing" gun that targets all systems relatively equally and has some of the lowest accuracy. Hitting all systems sounds good, but if you're trying to take a specific one out you're going to need a lot more shots. I have no interest unless it's given to me, though they do come in high damage outputs.

The energy lance is interesting as it gives you maximum straight damage and there is no splash, wonderful for puncturing shields. Alas it is on the lower side for accuracy, and it seems hard to find one with damage over 300.

This link is to a save where I have full progression and a run that's ready for the final boss with what I believe is the overall best loadout I have ever gotten. You should be able to annihilate your opponent unless you get really bad luck. Both DLCs are mandatory as I used Katherine Chapman and the Windsor for this run.

You will need to download and unzip it. Your save file is located the the "local" folder of your Application Data in Windows. The easiest way to get there is to open up a "run" command by right-clicking on your start button. Type in "%localappdata%" and press Enter. It should open a folder that shows your ProfileName > Appdata > Local. You should then see a folder called "Ironcast". Mine has a folder inside with a number, then in that is the actual save files. Those are what you are to replace, namely the Campaign to get mine, and Persistent to have my overall finished progress. I don't know what will happen if you simply use the Campaign file, but the good news is you can swap them out at will. I made multiple backups during this run and was able to go back to specific points, and you are advised to make a backup of your original file in case you want to go back to it.

This link is from my Google drive and is virus free as far as I know.

Ironcast Save File[drive.google.com]

I'm missing two achievements which don't look too hard to get, I just haven't bothered.