Tilt, very reasoned and interesting post, especially your ideas about the increasingly important GV game. But here's a thought in general:
Introduction of new technology on the battlefield generally causes a predictable pattern of enemy adaptation. First, there's a shock phase, where new equipment (like the first tiger on Ostfront) causes great impact, and can induce panicked reactions. Spontaneous ad-libbing, for good or bad, is the first op force reaction. Later, as the implications of the technology become understood, intelligent adaptations are made, the shape of the battlefield changes, and a new equilibrium is established.
AH application -- we've got new rules, and we haven't yet figured out what they mean. Lets see what tactics the ever creative AH crowd come up with, and find out just what the new equilibrium turns out to be! Bombing harder because more fighters up? Well, I'm starting to see a trio of buffs with a single fighter escort, to distract/discourage interceptors -- something I rarely saw before. Who knows what's next?
Wholesale tweaking is certainly coming, but lets slow the pace till we see just what we've got. That way, instead of bouncing from one problem to another we can get real fixes that really work.
