Thank you, OG. A great explanation of some fine points of the control laws.
As a matter of credibility, I was one of the pilots 33 years ago that talked with the engineers and flew the simulators that had different control laws and such. In our primitive system, we had a very clear "warning" that we were in "standby gains". If we were at 400 or 500 knots CAS, then the thing was sensitive! Once below 350 knots or so, the gains felt good.
Most of us would have liked a blend of AoA and gee command, with pitch rates to prevent overshoots. But the AoA sensors were less reliable if our speed got too slow. Nevertheless, above 120 knots CAS or so there was no problem.
In normal gains, we only saw a significant dampening of pitch rates when AoA was approaching the max limit. At low AoA we could get unbelieveable rates until we got to 20 degrees or so of AoA, regardless of the gee command. The so-called "bat turn" at 9 gees. Remember that we could maintain 25 degrees per second of sustained turn rate. The "corner" was at about 360 knots CAS, with 9 gees available and AoA of about 15 degrees.
Again, than you OG for a great explanation of the gains.