SOme forget that often, NOE raids are used as a strategic tool to aid in a much larger conventional battle. For example; The Knits are attacking Rook-held A193. The fight is going on strong for about an hour, a standard MA affair, mostly a low density furball with the occasional box of buffs rolling in. A squad decides that the focus and momentum of the battle needs to shift for the Knits to have a better shot at taking A193. So they create a mission to take an NOE raid to A203, a base not far from A193 that would give the Knits an entire second flank from which to attack A193. They swoop in under the radar and quickly knock down the town, and cap the city. TO avoid a counteroffensive, they quickly do the same to V189, which lies between A193 and A203. From A203 they lanch a low alt mission of fighters to overwhelm the defending Rooks and provide a diversion for the ground forces advancing from V189. To the untrained eye, this could easily lok like a straight up NOEroll on the continent.
While I agree that they are integral to the game, the idea of making it a tad harder to pull off sounds nice.
