Regarding scoring scenarios and the format with which they are played:
I'm not one to chime in, as I don't have the time to really get into AH like I used to. However, to me I feel that when I sign up for an event like that, I want to get the most out of it. I want to be able to participate, make a difference -- and even if I'm fodder I'm vital to winning the event for our team.
I don't like the 12 hour layout because (for starters) it takes away from my time and my participation. It maybe makes room for others at different times, sure, but I am experiencing less, am not seeing the entire picture (as if I signed up for 4 frames but can't make 2 of them, for example). Also, as it is less sessions, I don't have the option to participate more than once. It's unsatisfying to come into the middle of a 12 hour frame, fly a couple of sorties, then leave and never get to come back to finish it out. Too much of the "story" of the scenario and how it plays out is lost.
Further, I fear there are too many balancing and gameplay problems. Unless you have rigid staggered shifts that will be there on-time, every-time, it will be too much like trying to find a fight in the MWA. Say the bomber squad shows up and no fighters are there -- just a rough example -- then one team can easily steamroll the other. The 12 hour system is significantly harder to regiment than shorter sessions where you can take a break and regroup next weekend.
I'm not saying the 4 weekends method is the best. I simply think the single 12 hour session is too random, too uncontrolled, and too un-scorable. The math becomes herculean and the results 100% subjective because of all the concessions that have to be made. "Well, they were supposed to bomb 5 bases between 2 and 3 pm, but we only had 1 bomber, so let's count the 2 out of 3 bomb hits it dropped as 3/5 of that victory criteria" (to pull a wild example out of my... er... "hat")
Yes, score matters. I have a fairly big issue with scores not being released sometimes for months after a scenario is over. You can try to claim that everybody had fun but it's not the point. You can have fun winning or losing, but the score is important. Otherwise it wouldn't be an event. It would be the MA. Scoring is important and the winners should be celebrated. Promptly. I think most times when the question is raised: "Does anybody even remember who won XYZ? No, because they all had fun so they all win" the problem isn't that scoring doesn't matter but rather that it was hidden in forum posts after the fact and lost to time. Nobody honestly knows the answer!
So, I think the 12 hour system is too flawed and too unstable to track, score, and/or reward the winners properly, and you can't police or enforce it. I think, on top of that, the score is important to motivation, to morale, and shouldn't be downplayed or marginalized in future scenarios. I have a couple of thoughts on that, but I won't get into too much of a tangent.
