USS Hancock *DONE*

I can't think of a reasonable cost. American aircraft are already overstat with 9 vital Avengers, Helldivers, and Super Corsairs with a 9AA and 9 bomb native attack. There just really isn't a way to boost those without taking them out of the reasonable range of most game stats. The best the IJN has is the Sam that we incorrectly (very much my fault too) only gave an 8 AA and is nearly useless with a 1945 date anyway. And we over-cost the Grace by a point (a very big point), and it is still not nearly as deadly as the USN Corsair IMO.  Giving the IJN a carrier with all three boosts would just get them a little more competitive with the late war USN, but still not there. USN aircraft don't need an expert SA to be deadly. Early war the USN and IJN are more balanced, maybe even slightly in favor of the IJN, but the spread is nothing like the power gap late war. As for the Fleet Air Arm, they are really only competitive if they use US "lend-lease" aircraft. The RAF and RN really dropped the ball on carrier aircraft development.

USS Midway should have had a cost of 51. No less. So I personally think it is impossible for us to make an Essex class that isn't broken is some way. I am just trying to keep the "brokenness" to a dull roar.