Personally I like the old school mechanics. The thing that makes this game amazing is the dedication. It feels great to win a game after you have been playing it for 3+ weeks(about to win my second).

I understand as a dev you need to do what you think is best for the game and need to make money. In the long term and if the game grows, have old school servers for the people who want to play a server where strategy and long term planning wins.