Man I remember one of my first cultist missions - it was very very tough. Very unlucky I spent all reticulan power cells at this moment, so I couldn't use the laser rifles. One advise I can give you - never divide your team when you are dealing with cultists in the beginning.
So I first thought the Wargot Mothership is the ultimate mission - OK, this was an error. I destroyed the Mothership, the "alien" ship crashed down somewhere in europe and I rescued the reticulans. I researched the Wargot 2nd Ship and the reticulan technology (2 Laputa-Research Tasks) and now it seems that nothing more will happen. I played a lot of Cultist / Starghost Missions - including the Pillar of Death in the meantime but I have no more research topics and I don't see where the game will lead. So far I'm a little disappointed. Has anyonne encountered a similar problem.