and forget that you also have a 1% chance to miss.

I don't think the game is unfair at all, unless something so crazy happens that you end up dying to a glitch. If that's the case then just load up the last save. I don't mind permadeath but if it happens because of a glitch I'm not above restarting it. Shit, half the games released now have glitches.

Xcom takes a bunch of skill if you ask me, especially if you play at a higher setting. The rolling of the dice is what the game is known for, but that RNG can still be controlled by your actions. The game never throws anything at you that you can't handle, it just puts you in a position to see if you're patient enough to do the right thing.

It's a great game and like you said that's what I love about it.