I am guessing that the people in AW and the people in AH will act the same because a great many of these people ARE the same--literally. AH is, for the most part, made of of ex AW'ers and ex WB'ers....
Moving on....
You are afraid that your favorite aspect of the game--the strat--might be damaged by the presence of a "FighterTown" island. That is a valid concern, which I will attempt to address here. Several other people also don't appear to understand WHY some people want a "FT" island, which I will also attempt to address.
Currently, those who care about strat try to defend their country, even if it means getting vulched or ganged or whatnot....they are dedicated to the betterment of their country. Trying to take the last couple of fields from a handful of dedicated defenders can be one of the toughest parts of the game.
However, most of the "furballer" types already don't participate in these vulchfests if they're on the losing side. Instead, they defect or simply log off. (That, or get PO'ed at not having a decent base to fly from and start yelling on CH 1.) This is why I say a "FT" wouldn't damage the strat--those who hate strat already don't take part in it if they can at all avoid it.
You also mentioned that people go where people are. Most the time, when there's 100+ people in the arena, this won't be an issue, because there's plenty of action to go around. Sometimes, when there's maybe 20 people online, this MIGHT be a minor issue...so let's take a closer look.
If there's hardly anyone on, basically the arena is mostly empty. Usually the few people on will do one of two things: 1), milkrun for points/base capture, or 2), find the closest enemy and try to find some fights. A FT island wouldn't change that--those who want to capture land will still do so, and those interested in stopping them will still do so, too. Those who only want to fight A2A, and don't give a damn about land, will have a much easier time doing just that--not end up stuck flying around 20 minutes for nothing because the enemies went somewhere else before he got there. So Everybody wins.
Moving on to the WHY....
A good point that can be made, is that the only difference between AH and, say , MS flight simulator, is that AH has combat in it. A lot of people--the "furballers"--play for the combat, NOT to spend 3/4 of their online time essentially playing a civilian flightsim, with a few battles in-between, while trying to "win a war".
They feel AH is about flying and fighting, NOT world domination. Most furballers, if interested in land capture, will play a dedicated wargame...when they're on AH they just want to have great A2A combat (and AH is definately one the best sims for A2A combat) They don't want "AOE with planes", and don't see the need to wait 20 minutes for a 1 minute fight.
They aren't asking for much....just a few un-damageable and uncapturable bases placed close together, to foster a greater amount of A2A fighting per hour spent online. Nobody wants stupid features, like mid-air respawning or unlimited ammo....just less "dead time" between fights, and no proked base to worry about. It isn't the "strat" aspect that turns off most "furballers"....rather, it's the 20 minute wait between fights. OR, the lack of non-porked and non-CAPped bases to fly from if your country is being beat. "FT" would solve BOTH those problems for those whom love A2A combat above all else.
It would have precisely ZERO negative impact on everyone in the arena (except for the dedicated vulchers hehehehe)
I hope this helps.
I find it ironic how I am becomming the most vocal advocate of having a FighterTown, and I wouldn't even fly there much (I also prefer the strat aspect). I just know from my own past experience, that it's a good idea with no drawback, if done properly.
Give it some thought.
J_A_B
