One thing with crystal patch is that there’s no cooldown for the crystals placed on start, whereas there is for crystals summoned with a spell.
Defender's Quest DX release is imminent
So, uh, I have a strange request.
I would like the option to recruit units at level 1 and the absence penalty to remain as an option. Maybe for a terrible reason, but, hear me out:
Healer Grenades
I never realized how amazing the Explosive End book was! A character dies and it blows up surrounding enemies for 5-6k damage a pop! Imagine what I could do with 5 15 HP healer grenades peppering the battlefield being continuously blown up! 
Ahahaha… am I going to hell?
I think that’s still a viable strategy even with the changes, defenders don’t cost more when they level up. Funny role playing scenario, though.
On another note – what’s the consensus on the “H-Bomb” exploit? It’s the kind of clever trick that I feel like rewarding by leaving it in, but it also kinda breaks the game 
That said, it’s widely considered “cheating” and we have a confirmed 100% hero mode completed without it, so I don’t feel super compelled to remove it unless those of you out there with a strong compulsive streak have a good argument otherwise.
Our policy on fan translations is that if someone is crazy enough to make one, we’ll put it in the game and do the integration work and QA pass to make sure all the UI & stuff is lined up. I have a lot of friends who are classics majors so they would get a kick out of this.
That said, are you sure? This game has as much text as a small novel, it’s not small task
But if you wanna give it a whack, I’m planning on getting a streamlined fan translation interface up that connects github and google docs, so translators can just work in a friendly online spreadsheet, and then it syncs to a programmer-friendly github repo that tracks all the changes atomically.
It’s less a matter of them costing more and more that they gain HP when they level up. A level 1 healer will die to any late game enemy in one blow and boom, level 60 can’t be used as one-hit-boom grenades.
This feels like a viable strategy, since it can’t be endlessly spammed in pause mode. Explosive Start just feels cheap and boring, but I wouldn’t say it needs deleting.
Ah, I see.
Yeah, I might consider getting around to that, just got a whole bunch of other things on the list to do first.
Another balance suggestion:
This is what the majority of people experience during their first battle with Zelemir. He gets built up as this powerful dude for half the game and then you pound him down like a chump just by having a few defenders on him.
It seems like he ought to have a Summoning Shield to protect him for at least a little while. Starts at 100%, blocks 100% of damage. Every enemy that dies reduces the shield by 1%, allows 1% of damage to be done. Breaks entirely after the hundredth enemy being killed.
It’s always seemed a shame that Zelemir should lose so pitifully there.
On the level scaling for recruits:
It’s very weird getting used to characters now having different number of skill points at different levels. I’d almost rather you nerfed the level boost slightly but had them come with the appropriate number of skill points for their level.
The party size issues are interesting. Here’s another scheme to analyze.
- Allow hireling dismissal (50% what you last hireling cost). Allows partial forgiveness for overspending, as well as fine control over scrap to equip more upgrades.
- Divide XP gains by total party size. Rescale XP per map accordingly. (This is similar to the advice to play at 300% XP on Hero Mode) This is different from requiring them to be summoned- you get stuck with the tradeoff unless you decide to dismiss units.
For (2), XP per unit killed would now be multiplied by a baseline expected party size for that map. This would not amount to a flat 300% hero mode bonus, though, and it could affect the mode’s grinding curve dramatically. Since extra units cost scrap and psi, having them also cost XP could be a serious burden. On the other hand, if you maintain expected party size, the difference is zero.
The math for this proposal could get hairy. Does power scale with XP differently depending on how many units that XP is divided among? If so, is there one right way to do it that shortchanges the player of freedom?
This could be a separate option. “Adjust XP by party size” . The game already provides incentive for staying lean, but why not test it? Also, (1) by itself isn’t too bad.