If you're dying and losing talent points, you're likely still on an older build. Give the page a refresh, head back to the Blacksmith and reset your talent points and you're good to go!
More or less read all the guides for the Hard Badge like this: Day 1, get very lucky, otherwise restart. Buy useful stuff. Day 2, get lucky, otherwise restart. Buy more useful stuff. Day 3, get lucky, win. Easily done!
Hard Badge Guide (Revised): 1. Buy only Artillery. 2. Do not buy Gold Nail. 3. Repair ship with rest of money. Being one of those who tried the popular Artillery + Gold Nail only strategies, killed everything and timed bird bomb drops to save Arty money, I nonetheless got screwed by randomisation and came up 2K short on day 11. So I went even more bare-bones with an Artillery-only strategy. (4 pokes for each slow-moving balloon isn't too bad.) Worked on second try with 3K to spare, would not have succeeded if I bought the Nail.
I like how the gameplay of this game on the internet is exactly how people who argue about things on internet chatrooms think they will play out. "I'll state my case and point out what's wrong with his, and then he will be totally stumped and blown away, and accept my position fully, and I will win the argument!" EXCEPT NEVER.
What could have been a good game ruined by small details such as the frustrating drop system, backwards upgrades, lag, wonky xp equations, and most of all poor developer attitude to pressing valid concerns. Much, much weaker than the original. 2/5.
Terrible balancing. You can grind through standard enemies in a dungeon boringly effortlessly, then a random portal encounter is suddenly 30 times stronger and you lose everything from before. Such an awful execution of a game which looked promising but realistically forces you to grind inanely. Clearly not played through by the developers themselves. 1/5
Has potential, but such frustrating implementation. Clearly not playtested enough. Restricting movement speed is annoying, overly repetitive monsters, strategy and items, no option to continue current level if stairs is accidentally touched plus items dropping within stairs >_>, no autosell button, no sell option for potions and spells, hitbox is huge against bullet hell patterns, making point-blank duels the most effective strategy anyway.
5/5 just for text alone. Gameplay was not top-notch (a lot can be accomplished by lumping troops together, then alt-tabbing) but the storyline and lighthearted tone was excellent.
:D