I think smaller maps would be a big help if we are going to keep three sides.
Smaller maps, as Vraciu and many others have suggested. And closer distances between bases, as AvA people know. Ack-ack is right, AW flourished with good fights even if you had only 20-30 people online. But the bases were close, and there were only a few bases that could be captured - not the whole frigging map. Some things that contributed to that success - age of the players, individual concepts of what they were there for - may not be reproducible. AH's emphasis on base taking was an obvious change of focus, but the AW relaxed realism people enjoyed that aspect of the game, and they were the majority of players.
Move the bases closer. Maybe restrict the rotation to the smaller maps.
- oldman (remind me...could you even "win the map" in AW?) (I don't remember that, but it was some years ago...)