Some additional observations from yesterday.
OZkansas is a good map for bombers to work on the strats, as the distances do allow for much shorter trips. Our (rooks) closest base had been only three sectors away, for example.
When I entered arena, someone had already taken Knight City down to ~70%, with two additional sorties I dropped it below 20%. In the end, I was joined in my efforts by Volron, and we then smashed the Knight ordnance factory. Only by then the defense really started to show up. (And that was really fun)
Unfortunately, despite our repeated 'suggestion' nobody tried to take advantage of this by porking the Nit fields. Which was particularly fascinating as during this time Knight were pressing the attack hard. The generals were alternately yelling their orders and voicing their displease with the Rook's apparent lack of organisation, fighting will and planning. Ironically our pointers to the Knight's somewhat delicate auto resupply situation in regards to ords were dismissed, and I was told that 'strats are only good for score'
My whole evening I was also watching the other strats too. I saw occasional attacks, but always only by single pilots, and always the bombs had been dropped on several targets at once. Of course, this way attacks on the industrial complex are indeed a total waste of time.
Conclusion:
I was reinforced in my belief that a few experienced players can indeed have an impact by more 'strategic' gameplay if they get their act together. Kill City-> kill factory -> pork. Direct tactical combat is still more efficient in some ways (at least in theory), but it might still be an attractive path if action for those interested in something 'more historical', flying bombers, or just taking a break from the old smash&grab routine. Just a little bit of planning and organisation is required.
Too bad apparently not only nobody did know anything about the strats & the resupply system, but also the term 'organisation' seems to be strictly limited to blunt 'capture a base' operations.