I cincerely hope and trust that one of the goals in game software coding is to address the border issue.
Now - in HA - an APA can not win a room anymore and you have to go "brute force" - i.e. sink all ships - and accept the extra time doing that.
beside that this takes the fun out of having invested the time for an APA - BO, it reduces the flexibility on how to attack and take a room.
Basically, one more detail to make winning a HA more difficult which does reduce the attractivity of NF.
Also, APA can be a valuable job for mid level (new) players. Just for throwing smoke, noone will bring an APA into a room.
regards