Yes, I think AA is like OTA + selected 3rd party units that add more robustness to the game. Hell, even if it has departed a bit from OTA I like it a lot in its current form and get irritated when too many changes happen.Perhaps true, but I would argue that AA is closer to what Cavedog intended the gameplay to be
In all honesty, I think patching needs to be more infrequent. People don't really give each version enough time to explored before suggesting/launching radical changes.
Less is more in my opinion. AA is already getting a bit too much stuff in it (although I still like it), and I don't want it to get much more bloated.