In the same gist as FTL, you start off with a basic bomber that's very vulnerable to breakdown and damage so you stick to low-risk missions to build yourself up. Eventually you get strong enough to try the main campaign missions... and subsequently get your arse handed to you on a silver platter.

This is an extremely unforgiving game, but by no means is it not fun. There's never a dull moment, even the starts of missions feel like the calm before the storm. The ability for example to make calls like whether to go for optional objectives, or just the main objective, or even abort the mission just to try and limp home is amazing and really immersive, as it only adds to the rest of the player choice during everything.