Thank you so much! I was worried we'd made the initial cannon too weak, but I think it really makes the upgrades feel powerful! I had many runs start with an enemy spawning and driving into a rock - I liked to think of it as a tutorial showing the danger of obstacles ;)
The camera locking when you repair was intended to balance the mechanic, but I do agree having a little camera freedom would make that more obviously intentional and feel better than just being locked into doing nothing while repairing