I have to be honest, I think the last version I played was V19 stable. I just started a new campaign on normal difficulty in V21 stable an holy cow, the UFO's ramp up WAY TOO FAST! Only one month in game time and UFO's are appearing four, sometimes five at a time. I only have one base, and just starting a second. I only have 2 Condors and 1 Foxtrot. How the H. E. double hockey sticks am I supposed to handle this many UFO's? This tanks my country ratings which tanks my income, which tanks my ability to scale up my resistance, which tanks the game! Fast forward to month 4, I've only been able to develop 2 bases since most of my money has been earned through downed UFO's cause the world hates me because it's being swarmed by as many as 10 UFO's at any given moment. I've lost South America all together. I've finally been able to make 2 Marauders which may be my saving grace, but holy heck, this is not what normal should feel like...
There should either be A.) a much more gradual introduction of UFO's throughout the game (I mean number, not difficulty of ships, I think the difficulty curve is O.K.)
Or B.) a much greater reward for the UFO's you do down and clear with your troops (both monetarily and in approval ratings with nations)
Also, I must say, if there's going to be this many UFO's swarming around, at least be realistic with refuel/reload times on the aircraft, 2-3hrs. to refuel plus another 1-2 hrs. to re-arm SERIOUSLY!?!? Are we training noobs to fill the tanks for the first time, everytime? Do we need to take an hour long round trip to the local pigglywiggly's to pick up our missile warheads and cannon round before we reload? It's a goddamn alien invasion and I'm left with the "equal opportunity team" trying to figure out where the "ON" switch for the fuel pump is for over an hour...