RE: tapered swept wings vs constant chord wings?
From flying combat, where we spend a lot of time right on the edge of stall, but generally try to avoid stalling (ie, no 3D, snapping is a bad thing, etc), constant chord wings generally seem to have a softer stall, a slower snaproll, and recover from the stall faster. But you give up roll rate, speed (in theory), and the structure is heavier.
I use a constant chord wing in SSC class, where the planes are slow, light, and power-limited, but tapered wings in other classes, where I can power out of trouble.
All depends on what you want your plane to do.