Ditched Pilots
Add PBY Catalina with ability to land and collect bailed/ditched aircrew. The pilots, if rescued will be able to land their damage and kills on a runway, like a normal mission, when the PBY lands. The PBY Pilots/Gunners will get perk points for landing and rescuing the pilots. Secondary functions could be added, like PT boat supplies, which have to be landed. PBYs can also collect "ditched" CV crew and gunners and also capture enemy prisoners that are ditched.
Aerial Mines/Minesweeping
Add FW200 Condor with an option to carry aerial mines. The mines would be useless if too close a PT spawn, but otherwise capable of hurting ships anywhere else. Maybe dev's have to allow single destroyers as a vehicle, for minesweeping, with option for gunner to join. Make them weaker than normal destroyers, discouraging players from doing anything other than escorting CV's or minesweeping. Mines would become inactive after a period of time. Chances of mines hitting a CV would be pretty low, each FW200, B24 and He111 would only carry a few. An organised raid would sow enough near a port to force enemy to minesweep ahead of the CV group or merchant group.
Saboteurs
Add Halifax Bomber Special Forces version, flown by Brits/Canadians, French, Poles, Norwegians etc, with options for bombs, cargo and for saboteurs. Add Saboteur option to C47 as well. A saboteur, once dropped can disrupt rail and road resups until the saboteur found and destroyed. Saboteurs would only hamper resup. Saboteurs could also attack 1 item at a designated base. Similar to strat raiding, a team would benefit from organised special forces drops/resups.
Merchant Ships
Manned Version - 3 ships like a bomber - can be used by one player or in convoy formations of 6, 9, 12 etc. Gunner option for AA guns. Can resup any coastal facility. The longer the journey and the more cargo the more perks achieved.
Strat Version - Convoy group, like CV group, every ship that makes it resups the strats or speeds up times. Ships carry fuel, ords, troops, vehicles, aircraft, materials. CV gunners can join and hurricane fighters can be launched from forward catapults on two ships. Teams decide what resources to use to protect or hunt Convoy Groups (PQ). Convoy groups move almost half the speed of a CV group. Slow and juicy targets that are easily decimated if unprotected.
Why?
I would like to see more activity at sea. Currently I stand out like a sore thumb in my Coastal Command Liberators and I get paranoid about multi-account players and also, it works both ways, the more activity at sea, the more enemy there will be too, it makes noe missions harder of course, more ships to encounter. But ultimately a greater choice of targets and missions for naval and coastal pilots.
