Wulf

Thanks, that makes sense.

I'm reporting this more because of the fact it only decreases when the mouse is moved for whatever reason on the geoscape and not based on passage of time (intentional?)

Have a very strange bug with the geoscape with v18 STEAM, build 30/5/2013; Whenever I move the mouse on the map, my funding for South Africa decreases. I am not quite sure when this bug popped up- I saw it as early as a terror mission in Bogota appearing, but can't pin down what started it. I have two save files, one before and one after this started happening that I can provide. It continues to decrease whenever the mouse is moving on the geoscape, even after the terror mission is complete. I have not seen- or at least noticed- this happen before. Funding level change does not exceed original funding level, at least, so it doesn't infinitely keep sucking money away, though I can't imagine this bug being exclusive to South Africa, if it's reproducible.

Afterburners are in already and work like you suggested, and most ships will attempt to attack rather than flee unless damaged or you outnumber them significantly, in which case you can easily catch them with afterburner. In practice, enemy UFOs can't escape very easily and it's more likely you'll either shoot them down on the initial engagement or very quickly in a pursuit. As for your notes on ground combat, I don't think aliens can actually flee off the edge of the map, they only are marked "escape" in debriefing when you take and hold the UFO. If that's not true or is planned for the future, someone can correct me on that.

Flashbangs also set off the power cores in ships (13.2).

Thank you for your hard work.