Stuck in progression

[Jrobison]

Feeling stuck- In December of the first year
Currently have my first HQ unlocked (Red Dawn) and have heard it is the easiest
I try to assault it with my dragonfly (8 men), but the tanks seem impossible to beat?
Ive tried AP nitro express rifles, grenade launchers, and the black ops rifles...I've checked in debug mode and I'm not even hurting them
Research tree shows I need promotion III for the stronger explosives, but I need to take down an HQ to get it.

Ive destroyed one in a total of 3-4 reloads...with a single high ex I've scavenged (Am I supposed to stockpile these somehow?)

Am I stuck? Am I missing some easy research tree?

Appreciate advice 

[Sarissofoi]

Try to fry them using fire.
Fire ignore armor and enemy 2x2 units get 4x damage so you could burn them.

[anothrgamer1234]

What you heard was wrong, it's EXALT that's easiest. In any case, Nitro Express rifles are worthless against anything with armor- you want the Black Ops sniper rifles instead, or better yet a Barrett .50 Cal (EXALT enemies sometimes use them). Dynamite works too. Cyberweb enemies are fond of carrying lots of that and high explosives, so beat them up if you need more.

[TheCurse]

Nah i think RD is pretty easy, once you get rid of the tanks.
Fire is good (never tried it), but since you got blops stuff, minigun does the job well

[krautbernd]

Red Dawn is indeed the easiest one right now (given the original map can't be used anymore), provided you can deal with the tanks. If you have any recovered explosives left over, now would eb the time to use them.

Once the tanks are dead you just need to station two soldier above the only exit/entrance the base has. It's kind of design flaw, really.

[Bananas_Akimbo]

HQ assault in '98? You're pretty fast. No need to hurry that much, in my opinion.

Anyway, in addition to what the others have said already, you can also use some of the bulkier melee weapons as can openers, if you're desperate. Something like the bardiche maybe, if you have found that already. Flame glove and Staff of Dagon also work, if you have found and researched them.

I tend to use any sort of rocket launchers/RPGs, that I have found in missions and kept just for such occasions. High-Ex is always a winner, but you can also use dynamite, which is weaker, but at least you should be able to buy it at this point.

Other options work well but tend to take longer. No problem, if you have good cover, though. Fire and miniguns deal little damage against armoured cars but reliably due to ignoring/damaging armour, respectively.

It is best to deal with the armoured cars and any other enemies on the surface as fast as possible, before too many troops pour out of the underground base.

Again, no need to hurry. Take your time to stock up on weapons, if you feel you have to. As long as there is other research to do in the meantime, you're not losing out on anything.
If you have the money to spare, I would also suggest buying an Osprey, just for assaulting HQs.

[anothrgamer1234]

HQ assault in '98? You're pretty fast. No need to hurry that much, in my opinion.

Anyway, in addition to what the others have said already, you can also use some of the bulkier melee weapons as can openers, if you're desperate. Something like the bardiche maybe, if you have found that already. Flame glove and Staff of Dagon also work, if you have found and researched them.

I tend to use any sort of rocket launchers/RPGs, that I have found in missions and kept just for such occasions. High-Ex is always a winner, but you can also use dynamite, which is weaker, but at least you should be able to buy it at this point.

Other options work well but tend to take longer. No problem, if you have good cover, though. Fire and miniguns deal little damage against armoured cars but reliably due to ignoring/damaging armour, respectively.

It is best to deal with the armoured cars and any other enemies on the surface as fast as possible, before too many troops pour out of the underground base.

Again, no need to hurry. Take your time to stock up on weapons, if you feel you have to. As long as there is other research to do in the meantime, you're not losing out on anything.
If you have the money to spare, I would also suggest buying an Osprey, just for assaulting HQs.

And if you can wait until 1999 when the aliens start showing up, you can supplement your gear with alien lasers, they're the first to become available to you and they remain good for a while.