I know I am annoying, but finding answers to specific questions can be quite hard, I apologise.
So, how many hangars do you normaly build in your starting base? I ran across the problem that I can't do underwater missions with just 2 hangars, and worry I might need a 3rd anyway, but I f'ed up my baselayout a bit, and don't exactly want to destory my workshop and rebuild it.
Also not sure if I can finance (and defend) a true second base.
I usually build a third hangar in my starting base, and I always build at least one hangar (usually 2) in every expansion base. One hangar for a fighter, one hangar for a shuttle, one hangar for either building more craft or using Lil'Bird/Bikes/etc. to farm glamour. You want at least one hangar in every base for providing interceptors, and some bases should have two hangars for additional mission teams. Once you unlock better aircraft like the Hunter-Killer or Predator interceptors it's also viable to make a base at either pole with up to four hangars to provide fighter coverage to an entire hemisphere.
As other people have mentioned, expanding early and often is important for expanding your radar/intercept coverage, scaling up your economy, and providing more special mission craft. With that said, I often don't find myself building more bases until at least the middle of year 1, sometimes as late as year 2. I like the comfy feel of a small pirate krew and the main bottleneck is being able to provide garrison troops that can handle Stormrats. Once you unlock Dojos you should build one in every base to train your Hands/Peasants/etc. but otherwise it's mostly about rotating mid-tier and high-tier troops out of mission duty and into garrison roles.
Wow, what an advantage! I, too, very much enjoy braving reaction fire to get into the cover that most other craft provide on turn 1!
Taking reaction fire is a feature, not a bug; use a shield and/or rookie. Scrambling for cover forces you to appreciate the map and prevents you from camping the craft.
You lack fighting spirit, and you do not understand the way of the Red Codex. Khorne is displeased.