As a econ player, is there a way to acquire a new country without having to pay a ridiculous 300 gc for a country with absolutely nothing valuable besides the land itself?
there's a button above "now what" that should say "How to win a war in 10 minutes." It'll walk you through it. It's better if you use land forces too since they make air attacks more effective when nearby. The tutorial has you use only aircraft. Did you deactivate the military you started with?
I haven't done it yet. For some reason, I never got beginners income so cash has always been a little bit of a problem. I'm trying ways to get more cash so I can buy the weapon.