[Should there be a a tutorial of sorts?]

TBH when I suggested my chapterized version i did not expect a whole playable level. I expected 1 turn = 1 lesson, when done skip to the next kind of thing. Possibly a sandbox situation at the end if you want to try tieing it all together however you want.

I'm not sure how I feel about the tutorial blending into the story/rest of the game. IMO those are often kinda ranty and drawn out, hard to make them short and consice if you also ahve to tell a story with it.

Agreed on all accounts. The best tutorials are the concise ones that are all about teaching the game. I also agree that tutorials that are part of the story/game tend to be worse because they are so much less concise and tend not to be designed in a chapterized fashion for easy revision.

[The Air Combat Screen]

Is the air combat RT or RTwP? Are there different speed options like on the Geoscape? If it's RT with no way to slow down the action then I can understand the complaints.

[3D Enviornment rotation and see through walls.]

Not sure about see-through walls, is it really necessary? If you spot an alien you're always notified so you won't be surprised due to visual obstruction.

Either see-through walls or an icon floating on top of the walls is a necessity in my mind. If enemies are visible to my units they need to be clearly visible to me, as the player. Enemies being hidden from the player behind terrain is a problem that a lot of 2D isometric tactics had back in their heyday but that's no excuse as it was annoying then too.

[Should there be a a tutorial of sorts?]

I'm against bonuses for going through the tutorial. Imo it shouldnt be tied to a new game at all, not even through checkboxes. Imo it should be standalone and in chapters, so you can choose which part (geoscape, Ufo crassite, terror mission, night mission, base defense etc.)

I agree on both counts, though I'd suggest further, more specific breakdowns. I'm pretty sure that most TRPGs have something to this extent, here's an example from Final Fantasy Tactics. Presumably some sort of in-game wiki (an updated version of the UFOpaedia) is planned as well so that could also cover it in text form (Civilization V comes to mind).

I can see it being fun, but having the player set up everything seems like a bit too much coding to allow that. Perhaps though the plywood mock ups could be randomly placed (strategically) by the computer each time?

Just having a preset map for some different general map types would be nice. For example, one for each ship design. That said, I've never had a problem with experimenting in game and reloading so a sandbox is an ultra-low priority for me.

The problem I have with using national guardsmen in this capacity is you'd have to handwave everything as being training rounds or be forced to create a whole new type of non-lethal ammunition, which is extra work and even if you did make shotguns have beanbag rounds and grenade launchers have teargas and so on, it'd defeat the purpose of testing the weapons because they'd behave differently.

It might be a bit annoying to make but a virtual reality/holodeck type sandbox is always a possibility, though I still think that the plywood is the most setting appropriate.

[Need Help With Use of Avalanches in Air Combat]

The most important thing is to make sure your F-17s get into enemy range before the MiG (they can tank) and, very importantly to make sure that you fire off missiles in multiple salvos... If you volley them, the second wave will usually catch the Scout... You can keep missiles from all going off at the same time by right-clicking them and toggling the color indicator to red; that will keep them from automatically firing.

Is there a volley option? If not, that might be a nice addition. I'm not sure how many weapons you plan on having the best fighter being able to equip but if it's more than two an option to link weapons and fire either in unison or volleys could be nice. The volley option could either be with a preset delay or a customizable delay. This is all assuming that currently you have to deactivate a weapon until you get in range then pause, reactivate it, and resume in order to fire in volleys.