But it already works like that! (It should, anyway...)
Only for retaliation, not infiltration or other missions.
If that also applied to infiltration, a lot of the 'inconsistency' would go away and players would again have an actual chance to interact with the mechanic. And the reasons for losing a country would be somewhat more transparent (all them naked sectoids flying around and crashing government parties, with nary a soul thinking of the children...
).
TBH I don't exactly see what it's inconsistent with, but it's not really important.
Well, from my POV (probably from krautbernds's as well, to some degree) X-Com can thumb its nose at the Council with just score penalties several times, pulls off
wildly implausible (in anything even
remotely resembling RL 90s, anyway) things to shut down the four cults and monsters, and generally messes up the aliens plans a lot. I also think that
regaining a lost country needs a lot more setup, but
losing one just like that, no warning, no ability to do anything about it, no messages from 'friends on the Council', no nothing... Just feels off. YMMV, obviously.
Can be done, but honestly, I don't feel like it's worth the effort.
Probably true. Balancing an effective timer into a WIP project is a
massive PITA.