Obviously we shouldn’t drag the game too much, and make the island distance too big. I was thinking there could be more of a balance where rushing would still be a viable strategy, but there would be more of a risk for doing it compared to right now. For smaller maps I think the distance should be increased by about 10-15 blocks (In the case of Aero, it as a whole needs a rework), and maybe a little less for some of the bigger maps.
I also think base traps would be a perfect thing to add to prevent rushing from being so overpowered. Now, I don’t agree with every item the suggester listed, but I think Hive could come up with something good enough to get the job done.
Overall, yeah, rushing can be fun, but it shouldn’t completely overshadow every other playstyle like it does right now. Otherwise, the meta would be left one sided and the game would very quickly become stale and lose traction. Balance is a thing.