I guess I can see why veterancy will slow down the game – it's just a lot of numbers the game has to calculate in real time. Also, you're right on engie vet. I was thinking that engie vet could provide some exciting moments for casters, but I realized it likely just has the effect of creating "random bullshit" moments for players, so that idea can be shelved.
Nice points. That's a pretty precise summary of the various gameplay outcomes that nerfing the reclaim rate will lead to. One other effect the change has we haven't talked about is to actually help fix an issue you brought up before: contested mid mass deciding games on certain maps (e.g., Shoal). If a player successfully drops engies and wins the reclaim, the other player has more time for counterplay (e.g., making a bomber, dropping later and still getting some mass, etc.).