I really enjoyed my first few hours with this game, but got bored rather quickly and wanted to be done with it.

On one hand this is partly, because it either should've been shorter or featured some other mission objectives, which is admittedly kind of hard to do with a bomber.

On the other hand critical missions could've benefited from a time limit. Missing it wouldn't even have to result into a game over, but could just increase the difficulty of the mission, since the enemy had more time to strengthen defenses or something.
Thus you wouldn't feel compelled to just grind easier missions for better equipment and active perks.
It is technically my own fault, but I did grind a bit much at the beginning of the game, resulting into a big drop off in equipment progression and difficulty by the halfway point.
Then again, this is a game, where a few simple mistakes can result into a full on squad wipe and upgrade optimization is paramount.

Also, maybe don't do an emergency dive while an engineer is out fixing something.