It feels like now the difficulty is right, at least for the first 2 difficulties to learn the game, but the curve to the Captain is too steep. Also, the way mortars work compared to plasma towers does not scale well with the amount of enemies.
In this update, I changed the difficulty curve and the number of small enemies (mostly runners and soldiers) on higher difficulties.

Artifacts are the major factor in winning and some games can feel too lucky or unlucky. This update will introduce rerolling of the artifacts reward to give more control in the hands of a player.
Also, the artifacts pool that is used for 3rd starting bonus was reworked to make it more impactful.

Although a matter generator is a risky option, most of the time it feels like a safer option. I don't want to nerf it as most of the players enjoy how it feels, so other options were buffed significantly. But the cost of installing upgrades for the matter generator was increased, but very slightly.

v1.0.4
- Add ability to re-roll artifacts choice once per event
- Rework starting artifacts pool (remove weak, add more meaningful)
- Reduce the amount of smallest enemies on higher difficulty to balance AoE weapons
- Make the difficulty curve better (Captain and Start Lord for the most part)
- Buff laser cannon, reload duration (18/15/2/1 -> 15/10/1/0.5), upgrades cost changed to support this buff
- Buff deathray, min attack speed (5/10 -> 10/20), attack speed growth (5%/10% -> 10%/20%)
- Slightly increase matter generator upgrades cost (upgrade 3 1 cost +1 stellarium, upgrade 3 2 cost +1 stellarium, upgrade 5 cost +1 aetherium)
- Allow resetting tutorial (with default loadout) by deselecting tutorial in settings

This will further improve pacing to give a player more room to breath in the beginning of missions.

Although 2nd ship is very strong, it is still very hard to play properly. Some buffs will help with that. Also, it should be easier to beat bosses with it (focus tower now melts bosses).

I also wrote a short guide for anyone who wants to beat higher difficulties.

v1.0.3
- Change timings for 1st waves and enemies for 3rd waves to make pacing easier
- Nerf avenger, generator, healer and stick-bug enemies
- Bring back health buff for coil 2 1 upgrade 10 -> 16
- Double the distance required to transfer coil charge so it is always transferred with generators and plasma towers
- Focus tower attack speed increases faster starting from tier 2 (10%/20%/40% -> 10%/30%/60%)
- Reduce plasma tower delivery 20 -> 15
- Increase damage of upper mortars branch 8 -> 10
- Fix colliders not recalculating in pause resulting in ability to place buildings on top of each other and even destroy station
- Small localization fixes