U need to pay a lt of attention on lvelling up AND activiating the ablities during combat - they're not passive. And u also need to upgrade armour and weapons. And remeber your generals "initiative" score - if u don't upgrade that u get problems with the opponent getting many turns in a row.
Kong simply won't register my progress...That's a bummer.
@ U with the smog problems
Try using N-gas as fuel for the trucks. That seems to work for me. And upgrades are esential.