So do you believe the shorter the deck height, the better? Or, only to a point. The 302 Ford has a 8.2 deck height. What's a 318, 9.6 if I remember correctly?????
Only too a point that you don’t get the piston so short you compromise the ring pack or you get the rods so short that you side load the pistons to death.
The shorter the stroke, the shorter the deck to keep the piston and rod length reasonable.