I "get it" just fine, the control scheme sucks though and it isn't appealing as a game. As a story, as an experience its memorable. But as a game its terrible.
On level 10 ignore the diagonal bases, just get the the top bottom left right and middle. You will lose them once or twice, but just keep holding those until they run out of the strong gunners.
The efficiency is how much damage is being produced compared to how much energy is being used. If the % is confusing then just look at the raw data of how much damge it does and how much energy it uses.
There are little flags posted around the time they give you the "press up" hint. You have to press up when you touch the flag both times and that will make your red bar on the bottom go highest. I still can't figure out how to get lots of trick points though.
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