A terrific idea, and one that doesn’t seem like it would be to terribly onerous to implement. We already have all the code components to allow spawn-able and player controllable ships. Make it the same DE (with the same toughness) that escorts the CV (no new 3D model required), but with working torpedo launchers. It would function just like an over-sized PT boat, with the possible exception of having a few of the light AAA guns be auto-controlled. Like the PT or any other a/c or vehicle, one additional person could join as a dedicated gunner. Perk the heck out of them and then allow them to spawn just like the PT’s (but only from ports or the CV groups). An additional constraint might be to limit the number each country could have active at any one time (would probably require some new code for this). I’d make it so the main guns could be switched from AAA to AP to HE, similar to the 88’s at the bases. Another possible added capability would be a limited radar capability, able to detect A/C out to maybe a 15-mile radius, and surface contacts out to a 10-mile radius, but only the player controlling the DE would see the contacts detected by their DE’s radar on their clipboard map.
An advanced feature to consider would be to add a gun-director’s position (or perhaps two, one fore and one aft). Like the gun turrets in the B-29, multiple main guns would be slaved to this GD position. Sighting would be done through a set of mounted binoculars (set high in the gun-director platform on the mast), that could zoom the view in and out, and with some sort of calibrated range bars, to estimate the range visually. Like directing the tank gun from the tank commander’s position, the turrets would be slaved to the gun director glasses, with the same sort of lag for the guns to reach the directed bearing. Guns could be set to salve once per trigger pull, or to go into continuous fire mode, where the first trigger pull would start them firing at their maximum cycle rate until the next subsequent trigger pull pauses the firing.
A high perk cost would keep it from being abused; indeed, in many instances it would be something of a one-shot wonder. If you spawned from a CV and then the CV group is destroyed, you’ll have a potentially long trip back to a port, if you don’t want to lose the perkies. Even with several auto-AAA guns, a single heavy fighter would have a reasonable chance of taking one out, so lone-wolfing it would be a good way to burn perk points in a hurry. Air-to-surface and surface-to-surface actions could take on a whole new dimension, but the impact on the air-to-air war (or the strategic war) would be naturally limited. In short, adding player-conned DEs would require only a modest initial coding investment (without the advanced features mentioned in the paragraph above), enhance naval play but without drastically altering the air war or main arena dynamics.
