I have never seen Aqua flying spire, thus my comments, maybe I should have said "I haven't seem him fly it" rather than he does not. Lumberspire could still be nasty, but I would still bet on a Galleon winning out over it atm, yes its harder to manage range of engagement, but the extra durability is invaluable.
Saying you don't snipe, just seems more like a kneejerk reaction to the negative attitudes people hold about long range engagements, you spent most of the match shooting at long range with merc and lumber, yes your galleon had a hwacha as its 2nd side which made it less effective at long range and more so at mid, but you still spent most of the game at long range, I am not saying this is a bad thing though! It worked out well for you this match, it will be interesting to see you play vs one of the teams who have spent more time specialising at extreme range combat.
As far as the lumberjack, its not going to force people to close, its going to force people to try to slide around it, and avoid trying to rush at it, as thats a very good way to end up on the floor dead before you can even get some shots off, thats why they went around the side, as vs a lumber and dual merc with a spire and a junker if they had tried to close the gap across the open area they would have just been shot out of the sky.
Anyway, onto next week.