Learning from other games - which design elements do you want to see in FM?

[Koki]

I have been playing Xcom lately and I really liked the crossover style of the game. On the one hand you have round-based tactical fights and on the other hand you have to build your base like in a strategy game, while managing a tight budget. The development of your soldiers is a bit like in a role-play game. As someone who almost only plays FM throughout the year, it came to me like a revelation what I have been missing out. That there are game elements I like, that FM can't satisfy. While FM is already kind of a crossover game incorporating "minigames" such as tactics/ME, training, scouting, transfers and so on, I immediately thought that FM should try more to implement elements from other genres. But I couldn't really come up with sensible ideas because I would hate FM to become RPG-like where you can distribute training points to improve players' attributes or that sort of stuff. FM is a simulation and it should stay that way (namely realistic) but maybe you can think of aspects from games you liked that could be reasonably integrated into FM?