Why not start a fight
That's very challenging to do on a big map or map with far bases. If the fronts are too big, I can fly to a base, maybe shoot some AA guns, jabo, or hit the town, by then my plane will be toast from ack hits, if another plane rolls to fight me, I might either kill him and he never rolls again once he knows it's me, or I die easily from already being damaged. If I decide to fly back, it takes about 7 -10 minutes if I want to get alt with ord. That player may or may not roll again. I'd be lucky if he stayed up and rolled to my field to re fight me again, though he will probably land and may or may not roll again when I get back to his field. This is why shorter distances are more beneficial for smaller #s. As well as less bases on the fronts. No one cares about one guy attacking a field on a big map. Shorter base distance makes it so there is less time to get back to the field and keep the fight entertaining. It creates less hoards. With a huge map, it's hard to consolidate players to "fight your fight". Players don't condense to take the field they have to on a smaller front. When you look at maps that have furball islands or TTs, those bases are closer together. This means it takes less time to get back to the action. This keeps the fight entertaining. I actually don't like furball islands because it takes fighters away from the point of the map. The maps should encourage fights like furball island, without having a furball island. Many of these newer maps are better at achieving that. You dont see a bombers island where only bombers are allowed do you?
You all know I love this game and love flying with and against you. I am just compelled to speak my mind about what I see using my ingame experience to hopefully make this a better game for more players.