Fair enough on the starting position, yes I played and loved xcom, nothing like having a sectoid throw a grenade into your deployment area. The UI issues though...the game is going for a specialize your city, plan ahead feel. For that, you really need the tools that ease that by giving you information when it is needed. When I have a city level up and:

1. I can't compare it to my other cities

2. I can't see my current resource gain/loss overall

3. I can't see city details to see which direction of specialization might most benefit the city

it somewhat defeats the purpose of encouraging specialization.

As an added annoyance why doesn't the ledger screen list the amount of production a city generates? I can see the gold it makes and the production bonuses it has, but I can't see the raw number. Sometimes I want to know who can build something the fastest and who is getting the most benefit from resources without having to go into every individual city screen. I understand that the developers want the game to be about making large policy choices rather than micromanaging, but don't deny me the ability to see the information without hassle.