Wake Island – Some Thoughts on Naval Warfare, Vehicles and Combined Arms

After spending some time on the new Wake Island, I wanted to share a few thoughts about the vehicle and naval gameplay.

First of all, I really like the direction of the map. The scale, the carrier-based HQs and the combination of land, sea and air have a lot of potential. It also reminded me of what made previous versions of Wake Island, especially BFV, as well as other Battlefield maps, so memorable.

That said, I feel the current version sometimes falls into a strange situation where we have a lot of naval vehicles, but not necessarily the right ones. At the same time, some of the things that could make the map feel like a proper amphibious assault are missing.

1. The carrier should feel like an actual staging area

One of the first things that stood out to me is the way we deploy from the aircraft carrier.

Why are we spawning on the flight deck and then jumping into the water? The carrier is one of the most impressive parts of the map, but from a gameplay perspective it currently feels more like a spawn platform than an actual HQ.

In Carrier Strike, we can already access the lower part of the carrier through the external ramp. This made me wonder why we couldn't take the idea further and allow players to access vehicles from inside the carrier, similar to how carriers and ships worked in some previous Battlefield games.

This would also solve a practical problem. There are situations where the available boats leave, helicopters take off, and suddenly 5–7 players are left on the carrier with no immediate way to get into the fight.

I think the carrier could work much better as a proper staging area, with transport vehicles available directly from the carrier, access to vehicles from the lower/interior deck, and enough transport capacity that players aren't left behind.

It would make the carrier feel like the actual starting point of an amphibious assault rather than simply the place where everyone spawns.

2. Where are the amphibious assault vehicles?

This is probably the biggest missed opportunity for me.

Where are the AMTRAC/AAV-type vehicles?

Where are the IFVs?

And where are the landing craft or hovercraft capable of transporting heavier vehicles to the island?

Previous versions of Wake Island, especially BFV, did a really good job of making the approach to the island itself part of the gameplay. Boats, amphibious vehicles, aircraft and tanks all contributed to the assault.
The current map has the scale for this, but the naval gameplay feels much more focused on armed patrol/assault boats.

I think adding vehicles such as AMTRACs or similar amphibious transports would create a much stronger connection between naval and ground combat.

Instead of simply going from:

Carrier → boat → objective

we could have something closer to:

Carrier → landing craft/AMTRAC → beach → infantry + IFVs → inland objectives

That would make the amphibious assault itself part of the gameplay rather than simply a way of getting from A to B.

3. At the same time, there are too many armed boats around the objectives

This might sound contradictory after asking for more naval vehicles, but I actually think the problem is the type and distribution of the vehicles.

Almost every major objective seems to have an armed assault boat available, and at least one objective can have two.

This can actually reduce the amount of infantry combat around the objectives. A lot of players can end up spending the match inside vehicles, while relatively few players are actually fighting on foot.

Some objectives can therefore feel surprisingly empty from an infantry perspective. Instead of having an infantry fight supported by naval vehicles, the naval vehicles sometimes become the main attraction.

I'd rather see a more varied distribution of naval vehicles. Some objectives could have armed boats, while others could have regular transport/motorboats or no heavy naval vehicle at all.
That would still give players mobility without putting another heavily armed platform directly next to every objective.

So for me, the answer isn't simply more boats. It's more variety and better distribution.

4. Why are there still no jet skis / personal watercraft?

I'm also surprised that we still don't have jet skis / personal watercraft.

They would fit Wake Island extremely well. They could provide fast transportation for one or two players without adding another heavily armed vehicle to the battlefield.

They could be useful for quickly regrouping with your squad, flanking objectives, crossing between smaller islands or simply getting back into the fight after spawning.

They would also add another layer to the naval sandbox without increasing the amount of firepower around objectives.

5. Heavy vehicle deployment feels too limited

Another issue is the number and placement of tanks.

From my experience, there seem to be only around two tanks available on the map at a given time, and they appear to be tied to capture points rather than being properly deployed from the HQ.

This can potentially create a snowball effect.

If one team captures the right objectives, they can gain access to the available armor while simultaneously denying it to the other team.

I'd personally prefer heavy vehicles to be more closely connected to the team's HQ/carrier, with capture points influencing where they can be used rather than completely determining access to them.

This is also where IFVs and amphibious transports could help.

A more traditional Battlefield-style flow could be:

Carrier/HQ → transport → beach → IFV/AMTRAC → tanks → infantry

That would make the battlefield feel more dynamic and give both teams a more reliable way of bringing heavy assets into the fight.

6. Two-seat jets have a very strong defensive advantage

Finally, there is the issue of two-seat jets.

Because both the pilot and gunner can use flares, the aircraft effectively has two separate defensive cooldowns.

Against lock-on based AA, this can make a coordinated two-player jet extremely difficult to bring down.

You can force the pilot to use countermeasures, only for the gunner to immediately provide another set.

I'm not against two-seat jets having strong capabilities — that's part of their role — but I wonder if their defensive countermeasures should be shared between the two crew members or use a common aircraft cooldown.

That would still allow the gunner to contribute offensively without effectively giving the aircraft twice the defensive countermeasure capacity.

7. Missing destruction of the bridges

I also miss the option to destroy the bridge which would cause some issues to vehicles and would force them to pick up the only remaining path (which could be filled with mines etc.)

I really hope this will be added in the future for both Wake Island and Tsuru Reef.

Feedback / Suggestions for the Development Team

• Please make the carrier a proper vehicle and infantry staging area, with access to vehicles from the lower/interior deck.
• Increase transport capacity on the carrier so players aren't regularly left behind after boats and helicopters depart.
• Add AMTRAC/AAV-type amphibious vehicles.
• Add IFVs and better ways of deploying heavy armor from the carrier/HQ.
• Add landing craft / hovercraft capable of transporting heavier vehicles to the island.
• Add jet skis / personal watercraft as lightweight, fast transport options.
• Reduce the number of heavily armed assault boats around objectives.
• Replace some assault boats with regular transport/motorboats.
• Give different objectives a more varied mix of naval vehicles instead of having armed boats everywhere.
• Reconsider how tanks are deployed so that access to armor isn't so heavily dependent on capturing specific objectives.
• Consider a shared countermeasure cooldown for two-seat jets instead of effectively giving the aircraft two sets of flares.
• Overall, focus on vehicle variety, distribution and logistics, rather than simply increasing the total number of vehicles.

Questions for the Community

• Do you also feel that the carrier should be more than just a spawn point?
• Would you like to see AMTRACs, IFVs, hovercraft or landing craft on Wake Island?
• Do you think there are currently too many armed boats around the objectives?
• Would you replace some of them with regular motorboats?
• Would jet skis add something useful to the map?
• Do you agree that tank availability should be less dependent on capture points?
• How do you feel about the two-seat jet having effectively two sets of flares?
• Most importantly: what would you change about Wake Island's vehicle and naval gameplay?

I'm not expecting Wake Island to recreate BFV or BF3 exactly, and I don't think everything was necessarily better in those games. But I do think there are some ideas from previous Battlefield titles that could work really well here.

The current Wake Island has the scale and atmosphere to be an amazing combined-arms map. I just think the naval gameplay could go further than simply giving us more armed boats.

Curious to hear what everyone else thinks.