(Honda @ Sep. 04 2006,19:32)
QUOTE
A solution to these dilemmas might be to restrict A/c AA either to that formation it is intercepting, or the formation that is firing on it.
Thus D2 --> A2 --> D1 --> A1 --> D (target).
In this way, the LIFO rule works properly, D2 fires only at A2, A1 gets a full defensive shot against the remnants of D1, etc. This simplification also largely returns the game back to the current version which considers only one attacking and one defending formation at a time, (so A1 gets to fire at D1 before anything else happens to it), but would also allow multiple A/c formations and escorts (which I agree is sensible). (I also suspect that in practice this is actually what you have been doing in your multi-formation combats.)
I'd like to say that prior to finding out that we were playing the air rules incorrectly ?

?the above rules are how we managed the situation. It was probably flashbacks to E40K, but one formation on one target eliminated the shotgun approach to AA that appears to be the problem.
Neal? Thoughts?