Seems like scientists and engineers management will be a much more intimate here, unlike XCOM (Or X-Com), with each having a name (?) and the headcount below the room. Might be more interesting to choose than just adding raw numbers, especially since we'll still be pretty limited in the size of infrastructures we can add.
Most interesting thing is the new geofront : seems like a province system there... Looks very boardgamey but that's the general direction the game also went in the tactical layer in the former title. Maybe better than having an half assed X-Com geofront adaptation. Hints that the "dark events" might be triggers for alien progress as well.
EDIT : Read on RPS that Firaxis wanted to make sure the focus was on the story because everyone loved the characters
. Well, we were invested in our own created characters, not in yours. Why they keep pushing that angle I'll never know.