Few UFOs showing up?

[CountNeko]

I've got bases with large radar in North America and Central Asia, but I'm not really getting hardly any UFOs. The lack of Alien Alloy and Elerium is killing me. I'm playing on Beginner mode. Is this normal behavior for an Xcom game? I've never noticed this problem in Dos Xcom. I've only shot down 2 UFOs in the entire game (one was a small scout, yay 1 alloy!), and it's already beginning of May. The few others I did happen to spot left my radar too quickly or outran my interceptors, but they're few and far between, I can go days, even an entire month without spotting one and just having to do terror missions.

Is my game bugged or is this normal or what? Am I screwed in the late game if this continues? I really need Elerium.

[NoelBuddy]

Check your activity graphs.

[Arthanor]

Aliens target regions which are randomly picked. There are many of them, see here: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Geoscape_%28EU%29#World_Regions.2FCountries

It is possible that the missions generated so far have been in regions where you do not have coverage. Indeed, the fact that you report seeing UFOs zooming by out of your radar coverage suggests that they are in transit to or from other regions. That's when they go fastest.

In general, I suggest you work on your radar coverage. Establish small bases with a hangar, access lift, general store and large radar. As soon as the hangar is built, put in an interceptor. Do this all over the world. Later, you can upgrade the radars to hyperwave decoders, build some living quarters and setup a garrison so you don't lose the base if the aliens decide to retaliate.

If you look at your graphs, you should be able to see where the aliens are active. It is hard to react fast enough to UFO activity that you can't observe with radars (unless you have the AWAC mod on to send one there and investigate). One thing you can do is send a skyranger and hope that you find a UFO, then follow it until it lands. Trying to build a base where there is already activity is kinda pointless in my experience, since by the time the base is operative, the aliens will likely have completed their mission.

[NoelBuddy]

What he said.

[Hobbes]

I've got bases with large radar in North America and Central Asia, but I'm not really getting hardly any UFOs. The lack of Alien Alloy and Elerium is killing me. I'm playing on Beginner mode. Is this normal behavior for an Xcom game? I've never noticed this problem in Dos Xcom. I've only shot down 2 UFOs in the entire game (one was a small scout, yay 1 alloy!), and it's already beginning of May. The few others I did happen to spot left my radar too quickly or outran my interceptors, but they're few and far between, I can go days, even an entire month without spotting one and just having to do terror missions.

Is my game bugged or is this normal or what? Am I screwed in the late game if this continues? I really need Elerium.

I'll try not to spoil too much of the game but yes, what you describe is normal for two reasons.

First reason is that the aliens only send 1 random mission (Research, Abduction, etc.) each month, besides terror missions. During the first month that mission is hardcoded to be at the location of your 1st base, but afterwards it can be a random location anywhere. Terror missions are additional to this random mission and you'll get 1 of them each month. If you check the graphs for alien activity like NoelBuddy has mentioned you'll see where those missions took place so far.

Second reason is that your radars don't automatically detect UFOs once they get in range (unlike the Hyperwave Decoder), so you can detect UFOs right at the moment where they are about to leave, making interceptions impossible.

The good news is that after a certain date the aliens will start sending 2 random missions (plus the Terror one), so your chances of detecting UFOs will be doubled. But the best way to ensure UFO detection during the first months is really to increase radar coverage by building more bases as Arthanor has described.

But if you are getting unlucky during those first months and the UFOs are being generated on the opposite side of the world, there's a tactic you can do. After the 1st week check the Alien Activity graphs to see where UFOs have been operating for that month. Then send a Skyranger loaded with a combat squad for that location and put it on patrol until it rans out of fuel. If you're lucky it may be able to detect any UFOs that enter its detection range, and you can either try to get your Interceptors to reach the UFO on time or assault it with the Skyranger if it lands.

[Meridian]

I can only agree with Arthanor and Hobbes.

If you'd like to see what they described (as alternative to having full coverage with hyperwave decoder) in action, you can check my LP here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe0K-GUDQkNIhI8tBeYKHa_VoVYeVW67R

I have only one base in a remote location (Hawaii) and I don't shoot down UFOs at all (I sold the Interceptor in the first month). You'll learn how to:
- use graphs
- use Skyrangers as radars
- and much more

[Warboy1982]

also, building a base in the EU has a better payoff than the USA, as more regions are clustered together in that area (europe, north africa and some of central asia/siberia) as opposed to north america...

you can see what i mean here:
https://www.ufopaedia.org/images/b/bd/WorldMap_RegionalZones_Ufo.png

[CountNeko]

Thanks for your replies, I sent interceptors/skyrangers to North Africa where I detected activity and finally got some. Still no Elerium, but I'll have my base up in Australia where they built a base and get ready to intercept supply ships. :3