DrDamn one thing I’ve come to love about the game is learning to recognise when I may have the beginnings of a decent “hand” to play with.
If I’m lucky enough to build on that quickly I’ll go straight for a boss run. As soon as I find the door that leads to their area. Otherwise, I’m in it for the long haul, and I’ll hunt for ether and focus on unlocking skills on the weapons etc.
Recognising the potential of every artefact and parasite at your disposal and where possible unlocking new ones via the ether vending machine* are key imo.
E.g. I had two parasites on boss 3 that I often don’t bother with individually. One was a parasite that recharges health to green if under 30%, and the other parasite was one that extended the invulnerable period after getting hit.
On their own, they never really helped me that much but together yesterday the invulnerable one kept me safe long enough for my health to charge enough to take another hit. You can see it working amazingly well in the video above.
Half the game imo, is recognising these synergies and unlocking things that might open them up. They can make the difference between just losing and scraping through.
*the downside of profligate use of the vending machine is that you might make it slightly less likely to get an astronaut in, for example, the fabrication hub room, as your pool is bigger. Although I’ve unlocked loads now and I still get one there relatively often.
The upside is you might unlock something every bit as good.