This project is... different. Normally I completely agree with you. But I think this one will both make a strong first impression, and it's not something that is going to have much in the way of design shifts throughout development. I pretty much know exactly what I want out of this, because for the first time since the original AI War, I'm like "nobody builds this thing I want to play with someone, so f it I guess I'll do it." My wife and I have been playing survival games together since 2009, and we want to keep doing so, but everything on the market has various issues that keep us from wanting to play them. We have a pretty specific list of what we're looking for, and I aim to have all that in place before we even start a kickstarter.
Do I generally see kickstarter as a great idea for a company like Arcen? No. But that also doesn't mean I won't ever use it. I see it as a marketing tool as much as anything else in this particular case.