[Japo]

Well of course the problem is the aliens' weapons... If they used wet towels I could just research armor made out of two sheets of cardboard, and I'd be invulnerable. :P

But sometimes (at least sectoids in small UFOs and non military missions) aliens do carry other weapons than heavy plasma, though I guess it may depend on the difficulty level. Not to mention the guys who carry blaster launchers... :E

Less soldiers in exchange for more equipment, not a good trade IMO. I try to avoid night missions of course, as they give you a huge handicap against the aliens even with flares, but when I have to only then I manually load the flares and I just pack less clips (that is laser for everyone if someone had plasma), or grenades.

I really need to look into XCOM3 Apocalypse, I hear it has cover (I miss that A LOT in UFO!) and I might like the real time...