Fighting against game mechanics?

[Denolven]

Hello fellow mech nerds :)

I have 70+ hours in the game and am playing my first decent campaign now - instead of dying in the first couple turns because I don't know what I'm doing. I love the design in this game. Everything matters, and there is no "I win" button/setup, only trade-offs. However, there are two issues that give me the feeling that I have to fight the game mechanics instead of fighting bugs:

1. The whirlwind/tornado sometimes spawns right on top of my mechs, instantly losing me the whole mission because everyone is uncontrollable and gets eaten. I strongly recommend adding some type of warning so you have a chance to get out of the danger zone of the forming up tornado. A whirlwind doesn't pop into existance, it starts small and whirling and then becomes stronger. If we can scan the underground for underground bases and the sky for falling alien comets, surely we can scan the near ground for whirling leaves/sand/garbage/debris.
This would replace the random "GM decides you lose" with something the player can interact with and engage in, maybe even adjusting the mech setups for a little more movement speed to move out of harms way more easily.

2. I have 18 pilots and usually use 16+ of them each turn. Or at least I try to, because It feels like everyone is always blocked - can't move them into the hospital, can't move them into a mech. This is so frustrating. Why do I have pilots that I can't do anything with? Feels like the game actively prevents me from playing it. Also, the more pilots you actually want to use, the more frustrating it gets, because the problem scales with the amount of pilots.
To encourage use of different pilots, there could be a stress mechanic instead, where people who work all day every day for an extended time get stressed out. Missions could cost a small amount of stress, while not doing a mission regenerates a small amount of stress naturally (smaller than hospital). And if a pilot keeps doing missions every day the stress cost would rise more and more, maybe even bleeding into vitality if you keep pushing. The stress cost multiplier gets stronger/weaker quickly each day after a certain amount of days when the pilot keeps doing missions non stop, or takes a break every couple missions respectively.
That way, players could still send out their already stressed alpha team in an emergency - for a price of course. Rotating pilots would be encouraged, without disabling half the roster every time the player wants to do anything with them. The player stays in control and can engage with the mechanics.

The more I play the game, the more I see all the smarts and work that have gone into it. A big thank you for making this gem :)

Feel free everyone to add your own thoughts about any game mechanic that makes you feel like you fight the game instead of fighting the bugs.

[KiberKreker]

Thanks
📝