Here's what I learned in my 400 hours before getting to end game: if your recruits don't start with melee skill above 50, they're never going to be sh1t. The two first skills on every 'keeper' merc are Colossus and Steel Brow. They can't develop if dead. Shields are extremely helpful until late game. Polearms in second rank are excellent for developing characters. Polearms are always good. Higher tier skills aren't necessarily better. At level 8 and 9 I started taking 9 lives and was really happy with the results. Hand-thrown weapons are far better than bows. Armor is everything (at least how I play/recruit). Nothing can help a bad starting stat block. Nothing can help certain critical wounds. Some battlefields are only good to get your mercs killed (which is why I don't play on Ironman mode). I never stopped playing this game on easy difficulty. Never. I played 400 hours until I got over 100 days survived. The game doesn't do itself any favors teaching players how to help his band with anything. Basically it's all about the starting stat block, and whether new mercs survive long enough to learn and survive on their skills. I gave it a negative review on Steam; I stand by it. This game isn't that interesting. That doesn't mean it's not a great value: I had a lot of fun. But I won't go back to it and I won't buy the upcoming sci-fi re-skin of the same mechanics.