Quote: "What do you mean? Like make the planes not explode but crash into the sea?"
I was thinking particles for explosions and such, but that sounds pretty neat. You could have a splash as they hit the ocean or explode if it's an island (I remember seeing an expanded version of the 1945 example that did that, still 2D of course).
As for the waves - the DBC demo with an ocean matrix that looked and ran smoothly. If I recall it used some sort of shifting technique to give the impression of an endless ocean. I know that tank demo did that and that might be what I'm thinking about...