Although i have long ago accepted being plundered as part of the game, I have never lost so much from it that i was losing fwd momentum. I have seen instances where proper story quest/map management landed members of Indy hoods with Near untouchable PME troops. Even then, instead of crying over being plundered, i researched how i can do the same.
Maybe the simplest form of correction is not hood stack fairness but instead focus closer battle fairness. make hood battles only able to use hood age troops similar to gvg maps.
Or, maybe have towers based on defense set. If you set an IA defense, you can only compete in the IA tower with IA troops. If indy and setting a PME defense, can only compete in the PME tower PME (or lower) troops. Lock defenses in for 48hrs or something similar, heck, maybe a whole week, to prevent constant defense manipulation.
Perhaps eliminating the plunder is something to consider after all. ( i think it would be the death of the game but let's consider it)
Maybe a static set of hood battles of increasing difficulty with selectable victory prizes for fighters to run through each day as far as able?
Maybe a multi-path Ge Map with up to 74(ish...to equal hood potential) battles that can be run through each day for daily fighters/plunderers? repeats wouldn't count in GE stats for guild competition, only % cleared once, but still able to go back and fight again for points/prizes?
That screws over the hundreds or thousands of players that researched quests, studied the tech tree, read the forums and planned their move through the ages months in advance and invested hundreds of hours in the game to achieve their goals.....but it might cut back on whining from players that can't collect on time routinely for whatever reason.
This isn't a fully developed set of ideas worthy of proposals yet..might not even be new ( i read a lot, but not all, of this forum)...but it's something to kick around.