I tend to agree with your wish for more dogfighting, but I don't agree that there's something wrong with land-grabbing or war-winning. The problem is not with those goals but with the architecture that allows, neigh ENCOURAGES, the dweeberry illustrated above and in countless earlier threads.
I
TOTALLY agree with this analysis.
The fun of tactical aerial combat isn't necessarily incompatible with the strategical territorial combat. The problem is that the basics of AH strat structure, is simply
OLD. The basic strat design has virtually unchanged since the earliest versions of the game - where people in those days hardly really cared about startegical combat at all.
The community was small, and everybody knew everyone else. They played AH for pure A2A fun, and the strat structure was nothing but a nice little surplus factor which intended to help diversify the overall situation of aerial combat.
Things have changed, and the "architecture" of the game, as Edbert puts it, is what's bringing out the problems of late.
We should encourage tactical and organized offensive/defensive operations designed to grab land and win the war, not diveboming with 4-engined heavies . But as it stands right now one guy acting alone can in less than 5 minutes spoil the fun being had by 30+.
So very true.
Another perceivable problem is that too much action is oriented around the fields. The field is the only thing that matters in the game, and every action is concentrated around the field. People attack the field, and the action stops. People gather around the field, and a horde is formed. People abandon a field, and the milkrun starts.
Whilst the entire MA resembles a total war in the mental/situational sense, unfortunately the basic strat is nothing like a real war at all, and the pre-set "system" of limited strategical combat between two hostile airfields dominates over all else.
Since somany people are crammed into so small an area, with so few, flimsy targets to attck, it is no wonder that we're seeing dweebery as much more efficient, "war-winning" form of action rather than "doing it the right way". Why take up a buff to 18k when you just spray bombs everywhere at deck alts?
I dare say, a totally restructured strat system is needed.
