1. The new strat system is in there, though alot of us still haven't gotten used to it yet to develope "standard" tactics that everyone just naturally uses.
We're in the same boat, you and me.
2. Latency is an individual type of thing. Its different for each user. I play using a 56k modem (47k is usual speed), though it never has been much of a problem. Online I rarely ever see anybody complain about lag.
3. Alot of guys have been doing this alot longer than 6 months. I've been playing for 4 years (2 years of Aces High). As one game magazine article about online games, specifically describing World War 2 Online said, you don't run into that many planes....but they're ALL aces. Its brutal, you lose more than you win, and thats normal.
To be honest, breaking even is considered success.
Hans.
P.S. Welcome back.