What if there was a realistic weather-map overlay for the battlescape, which could affect the game in various ways-both malign and beneficial? For example, getting a tailwind to give your interceptors a little extra range, or the possibility of losing an entire helicopter full of soldiers(and gear!) due to flying into bad weather. Or simply the added atmosphere of a terror mission in a thunderstorm-with requisite penalties to LoS range and accuracy due to reduced visibility. That would be interesting, if nothing else.
I've been thinking about this since even before ever knowing about Xenonauts, (or even Xcom for that matter) and I think that it would be a great addition to the mood/setting of the game. I'm a huge fan of strategy games, and I ove it when they make me have to stop and THINK about the environment beyond 'what gives better cover, and what can I blow up.' Not that these aren't important, of course! But having to decide whether to drive your APC over muddy ground because it MIGHT get you there faster and it MIGHT bog down is a great tradeoff-one which I feel adds to the emergent narrative in plot-minimalist games like Xenonauts.
</rant>
