Point is:
Heavy Bombers are powerful, but not game changingly powerful. There are a myriad of ways to negate the power of the heavy bomber.
Super Submarines were way too powerful to give you the ability to get them whenever you wanted them with whoever you wanted them for. There was no way to negate their power.
To defeat a Super Submarine you have to buy a Destroyer.
Super Submarine: Attack 3
Destroyer: Attack 2
Super Submarine: Cost 6
Destroyer: Cost 8
On top of it, just having the destroyer did not even mean you’d be able to kill the submarine! You had to find the blasted thing first and you only have a 33% chance per destroyer to do that.
The way it is in Enhanced is:
Super Destroyer: Attack 3
Submarine: Attack 2
Super Destroyer: Cost 8
Submarine: Cost 6
This is in line with a more balanced game, since the Super Destroyer is only slightly more powerful than the submarine for only slightly higher cost. The Destroyer is unable to pass through enemy ships without being attacked and does not have to be found first before it can be destroyed.
Your allusion to Heavy Bombers has been shown to be not nearly as powerful as the super submarine. A quick run down:
Battleships get to shoot bombers down before they can attack, so there’s a 1 in 6 chance your bomber won’t even get an attack.
Battleships cannot sink submarines before they can attack, so there’s a 6 in 6 chance your submarine will get an attack
Battleships can be upgraded with radar giving them a 1 in 3 chance of shooting down your bomber before it even gets an attack.
Battleships cannot be upgraded to give them a chance to sink an enemy submarine before it gets a chance to attack
A bomber has a chance to sink a battleship in one round if it is a heavy bomber. That chance is 44%. A battleship has a chance to kill a bomber in one round, that chance is 67%.
2 Submarines have a chance to sink a battleship in one round. That chance is 25%. The battleship in that battle would not get a chance to fire back.
So the Bomber can be killed before it gets a chance to attack (and with a 33% chance as well) and only a 44% chance to sink the battleship if it is not shot down in opening fire with a 67% chance of being shot down itself. Cost: 14 IPC with very poor chances of sinking the battleship.
The submarines can kill the battleship without even letting the battleship return fire. Cost: 0 IPC, Gain: 20 IPC. Submarines are WAY better than Heavy Bombers.
If you up that:
7 Submarines with a 21 Punch have a virtual 100% chance to sink a battleship without loss.
3 Bombers will drop to 2 Bombers because of AA Gun fire with a punch of 16 which is virtually assured of killing the battleship, but with the loss of a bomber.
So do you want to lose no equipment, or a third of your equipment?
Most people say no equipment, especially since those submarines can now do 7 CRD to the enemy, the bombers have to survive the AA Gun fire before they can do any damage to the enemy.
They’re just a piss poor investment if you want dominance of the ocean. At least, when you want dominance and can get any tech you want whenever you want.