So why not have a counter force ready to take on the attacking force ahead of time. make a iron wall of planes ready to react.. yes i know this sounds hard or even impossible but in reality that is what happened in real war events was they have spotter craft separated out and they would reform to take out the threat.
I'm just saying, Yes while the ( Horde ) may be hard to control or deal with. There are ways around it people are refusing to see.
There is no incentive for them TO defend, also as DmonSlyr says they don't want to die/hurt their score.
The game is suppose to be fun. While Im not one of the "top guns" here I think Im above average, and I will defend, but after awhile it gets tiring getting thrown back to the tower so often. So you have a crew that jumps as quickly from one base to the next trying to slow the horde but after awhile gets frustrated and they break up and move off to something else.
Next you might say pork the bases! Sure thats almost as much fun as running supplies to HQ because some low life NOEed his way around to drop DAR every 30-45 minutes or so this past weekend.
I've been here for over 11 years and have seen it all...... well most of it. Between the lower numbers, players more interested in score/winning the war, and afraid to die fights are a rare things these days as compared to the old days.