Greetings

I have two concurrent playthroughs of the game at the moment; one i started as KGB and the other as CIA...
I noticed some upgrades and sub-facilities in hideout were unlocked or given through specific chapters and/or specific main story's Big Files to decrypt, as well as workshop research.

So i suppose that depending on how you play the game (and the pace you trigger the main story's mission) there may be some differences each time you play. But:

Is there some actual real differences between starting as KGB and starting as CIA (aside from the main story's missions and cutscenes being different for first two chapters before becoming "the cabal") ?

BEWARE: possible spoilers below

I mean:
MKultra facility: as CIA i only unlocked it after the mission in the coverup spa in yougoslavia, while on my KBG game, i already unlocked its basic form long before this same mission.

Body physic enhancement (aka drugs): i quickly got compounds on my CIA playthrough while on my KGB game, even if i unlocked the facility, i didnt get any compound before second half of chapter 3

And the last one, that is really puzzling me and for which i need an answer because i'm not sure if it is intended or if it is a bug:

Additional disguises: On my CIA playthrough (and i started a new one just to double check), once i build the Forge facility, i get a research upgrade on workshop called "Microfilm cleanup equipment" that basically gives you a second disguise option during missions... (I also unlocked a third one aroung chapter 4 or 5 later on)
But on my KGB playthrough, either i researched this upgrade and it did nothing, OR i didnt get this workshop research at all... I'm currently chapter 4 there and since beginning, i only had 1 single disguise option all the time

So, main question is: Not having disguise upgrade during 4 chapters as KGB, is it intended game mecanics OR is it a bug ?

(some missions are quite hard with just one disguise, not to mention with the recent rebalancing of actor perk as well)

Yeah, the point at which some things get unlocked is different depending on which faction you choose in the beginning.This is largely randomised and admittedly results in some situations where you stumble upon some stuff quickly in some playthroughs while you won't get it for a while in others. We're aware of that and hopefully this will be improved soon.Sounds like a bug or oversight to me. Will forward this to the guys responsible for this stuff.

Thanks for the explanations and confirmations

if you want, i can keep a savegame of my KGB current game stored for further analysis if it can help...

Sure, that's always helpful. Would be great if you could share that file so I can attach it to a support ticket.