Why do most players ignore the strat part of the game? At the most basic level, because their gameplay impact is too indirect. If your goal is to keep troops down, it's more effective, safer, and faster to send a solo 110 across the entire front NOE than it is to send buffs on deep penetration at altitude. Those bomber missions are long and often thankless -- and in AH, boring is gameplay death. Hitting strats CAN impact play, but in the flow of the MA it jst isnt worth it.
And any small effect on gameplay will be DEFENSIVE in nature, adding to the stalemate. Troops: stop the enemy from attacking you. Ordinance: stop the enemy from attacking you. Ack: ridiculously easier to take out the guns, so who cares about the strat. Refinery: useless with 75% basement for base fuel supplies.
Which is why a map can have disconnected strats that nobody notices. They just dont care, because it doesnt impact gameplay.
So here's a thought.
One: Since base fuel cant go lower than 75%, the fuel strats are especially meaningless.
Two: The major impediment to effective base capture with non-horde numbers is difficulty getting and keeping the base safe for M3/goon.
Three: FH and VH down times are just a bit short to allow attackers to clear the defenders adn bring in the goon. This cycle is where most stalemated attacks stall.
Suggestion: Why not convert the currently useless Refinery strats to Manufacturing strats, that affect the hangars' down times? Terminal damage to the strats could cause hangars' down time to extend from current roughly 15 mintes to maybe 30 of 40 minutes, with incremental effects for partial damage.
This change alone would radically change the way that the capture crew approached a base. I suspect we'd see less of the horde, actual concerted defense of a strat target, and a breakdown of the stalemate seen in so many maps.
Simaril
