I can't take these cult manors

[karatewalrus]

I can't approach them because they destroy me. So I can't kill them and they keep spreading and I lose. And it sucks. It's a terrible game mechanic. I'm out.

[SBBurzmali]

Are you running into issues in the air or on the ground? For the air, you can bait the defenders out to chase am expendable or fast craft and then swoop in and attack. As for on the ground, opinions differ, I favor bringing enough firepower to achieve local supremacy and enough explosives to level much of the map.

[Chuckebaby]

The balance of the game has been discussed quite a bit here. It is a very, very difficult game to beat. I'll be the first to admit, i used a text editor to make some personalized changes.
In other words...

Spoiler:

I cheated

I'm not afraid to admit it, I put countless hours into this game and felt it was doing me wrong so used a weapon more powerful than plasma (NotePad+).

I'm now playing the game again with the knowledge I have built up from going through it once already. This time I wont be making any changes. I do however wish that "Beginner" was a bit more user friendly but I'm not going to complain or debate the game creators vision. I'll respect it instead. Might not like it  but will respect it.

The changes I made..

Spoiler:

I took one of my soldiers and boosted his firing accuracy. He is my sniper. I needed one good gun, one good aimer to take out aliens who were not giving me a fair chance to succeed

I knew nothing about modding save game files until mervx game me some inspiration, he really helped me out along with Juku and others.

[vadracas]

This goes a bit off topic, but I have to note my extreme surprise that boosting a single soldiers stats made a difference, getting high statted soldiers is generally the easy part, the harder parts being as karate mentioned, the strategy layer.

[Solarius Scorch]

I can't approach them because they destroy me. So I can't kill them and they keep spreading and I lose. And it sucks. It's a terrible game mechanic. I'm out.

Sigh

Kids today...

[Chuckebaby]

If you can find a way to access a few black ops sniper rifles, you'd be styling.
Maybe someone can help you out. Can you post a save game file ?
I'll take a look at it.