3) If the fight is important to those participating, why didn't the folks who wanted to keep it going fight off the attackers?
Because they were too busy shooting at other airplanes having fun to worry or care about toolshedders blowing up buildings in tanks. They were probably just hoping somebody did care enough to stop them.
I do the base capture thing sometimes, usually when I'm incredibly bored and there's no fight. It's never satisfying though, it's the same procedure ad nauseum every single time. Absolutely zero depth to it, might as well play solitaire for $0.00 a month. It's a 2 man job, and you basically need one more player for every player of opposition there is to accomplish the task.
Procedure:
1)Strafe ack
2)Bomb and Strafe Buildings
3)Make sure you got the church! Make sure the maproom is strafed!
4)Drive truck to middle of town, salvo, open doors, hit B
5)Pat Self on Back, Move on to next base, Repeat.
And what does this accomplish? A fake base captured for your chess piece in a fake war that nobody cares about except a few armchair generals? And when you win the war, in all its glory, your reward: A few perks points and a swift disconnection to the desktop.