Leaderboard

Fourth option: Panic increases funding, either based upon the maximum panic a nation has experienced, it's current level, or a mix of the two. Right near the end of the current panic curve, it drops just a little bit and the player is warned the program is at risk of being cancelled. You can probably dial back mod2 panic recovery a bit in conjunction with this. This has two main advantages: 1) It's a stabilizing mechanic, an anti-death spiral. If a player does badly at the start, they'll have more resources to be given a chance to recover. 2) On the flip side, by giving the player too few resources to defend the planet initially, you ensure things do get worse for a while which is useful for generating a compelling emotional narrative and for campaign pacing purposes. Because of #1, the player does have more room to decide how they prioritize coverage. Players that do successfully cover the planet initially have more panic runway before they start getting shut down. Players that choose less coverage or that do a bad job resisting will get more resources sooner, but be closer to losing. You give the players more agency to have different paths by not shoving them off the cliff at the end of the path, rather than adding an additional interface and thing for the player to juggle. (which isn't to knock the idea of giving the player more control over things; this is just another, less intrusive option)