A unit that's pretty notably underused (and probably rightfully so) is the Strategic Bomber. In the games I've played (20~ so far) I only saw it used once and just as a singular scout because of the range. Theoretically, and historically, the Strategic Bomber should be a powerful but expensive unit used to disrupt your enemies production and cripple him as you destroy his armies. This was used to great effect during WW2 by the Western Allies, German production was hampered significantly due to constant air raids. However, Strategic Bombers have one massive flaw: they have no escort.
Strategic Bombers are very vulnerable to interceptors, as they should be. But as it is there is no way to help your Strategic Bombers fight back, you just have to suck it up and deal with the losses since they are often so far out of range of your own interceptors. Having just a handful of fighters dedicated to patrolling your cities completely neuters this kind of Strategic warfare. An easy and straightforward solution would be to just buff the bomber's stats so they don't die as easily, but this is kind of ahistorical and has the potential to break the balance the other way and make Strategic Bombers overpowered. My solution is to add a new aircraft type, the Heavy Fighter. Historically Heavy Fighters were used by every major combatant during WW2, and were a critical component to WW2 air warfare. Heavy Fighters had significantly more range and had more firepower, but were more expensive and less agile than typical single engine fighters.
In-game, Heavy Fighters would have similar differences. They would cost more, take more time to make, have a little less attack/defense against airplanes, and require a lvl 2 airfield. To offset these costs, they would have significantly longer range (not as much as Strategic Bombers but similar), have better attack against infantry and tanks (not as much as Tactical Bombers, obviously), and have a bigger patrol circle. Overall I believe Heavy Fighters would fill an important niche within the Call of War air combat system.
Strategic Bombers are very vulnerable to interceptors, as they should be. But as it is there is no way to help your Strategic Bombers fight back, you just have to suck it up and deal with the losses since they are often so far out of range of your own interceptors. Having just a handful of fighters dedicated to patrolling your cities completely neuters this kind of Strategic warfare. An easy and straightforward solution would be to just buff the bomber's stats so they don't die as easily, but this is kind of ahistorical and has the potential to break the balance the other way and make Strategic Bombers overpowered. My solution is to add a new aircraft type, the Heavy Fighter. Historically Heavy Fighters were used by every major combatant during WW2, and were a critical component to WW2 air warfare. Heavy Fighters had significantly more range and had more firepower, but were more expensive and less agile than typical single engine fighters.
In-game, Heavy Fighters would have similar differences. They would cost more, take more time to make, have a little less attack/defense against airplanes, and require a lvl 2 airfield. To offset these costs, they would have significantly longer range (not as much as Strategic Bombers but similar), have better attack against infantry and tanks (not as much as Tactical Bombers, obviously), and have a bigger patrol circle. Overall I believe Heavy Fighters would fill an important niche within the Call of War air combat system.