Hello, I would like to suggest some ideas to make bluewater a bit interesting, instead of fighting in the exact same three matchups over and over. I wrote those ideas up for fun aster thinking about them for a while.
Firstly, a bit of variety on the AI ships escorting the convoys in encounter would be nice. Instead of the exact same set of German ships we could have a few allied ships to represent the opposing team, with one layout being:
T-22 > HMS Vega/Grafton/USS Fletcher
Emden > Dido/Arethusa
Admiral Hipper > Kent/Norfolk
Shore bombardment
USS Idaho bombarding Okinawa, 1945
Secondly, a shore bombardment mode would be a nice addition. Naval bombardment was used quite a bit during WW1 and WW2, and while I don’t completely have a solid idea, something like this should make a good baseline:
There are two opposing sides, one attacking and the other defending. The defending side’s boats will spawn in front of what they’re supposed to defend (a harbour, a convoy of tanks, etc.) while the attacking side’s boats will spawn opposite them. As for the larger ships, they will both spawn opposite each other on either side of the objective. The goal for the attacking side is to enter the objective and start killing as much enemies there as possible (tanks, dredgers, etc.) while the defending side has to prevent that from happening by any means necessary. Again, this is a rough idea of what I have in mind, so it’s not final.
Night battles (5.7 and over)
HMNZS Leander and USS St. Louis at Kolombangara, 1943
Finally, much like how there are night battles for ground, one for bluewater would also be great. Most naval battles during WW2, especially in the Pacific theater, took place at night with only the searchlights of each team guiding them to the enemy. In-game, this could be implemented as a spotting system where you cannot lock onto enemies unless you first shine your searchlight at them. Visibility may be as low to the point you can just barely see the silhouettes of other ships.
And that’s all from me! Any suggestions or criticisms are welcome.
