To equip new items you have to go back to the hangar. To do this, hit "Back to Map" rather than "Restart" when you die. From there you can go to the hangar. Hopefully this helps others.
bug: when sending in from a group, sometimes a cell with 0 starts moving. when that cell tries to enter another cell, it can't get in and instead makes a horrible noise.
A definite improvement, BUT I find it more difficult to see what my resources are. Builders, Recruits, and Mages should look different from Bricks, Weapons, and Crystals. As it is, they are all interspersed.
Very good game, but the first 25 or so levels were pretty easy and then suddenly it was very hard. An smoother difficulty transition would have been nice.
Lot of effort when into this but gameplay gets boring quickly. I basically don't even look at the right-hand side of the screen. Just research and crate. Music is nice.