Never heared of that, but I shurely would test what's faster. yes, with a terrain, an ocean with nice waves should be real easy, although an ocean is real big and probably it would be better to use a fake ocean that fades to a simple plane at some point. But then it would be smart to use an offset for a tiled animation for the visible ocean "patch", and that offset would be calculated from the players moving direction etc.
It's a fascinating topic and since I worked on underwater fx lately, I probably gonna give it a try soonish.
EDIT: Does anyone remember the last level of NOLF2, that plays on a little island? That was a great ocean! watched from the hills, the waves around the islands coast where looking very nice, one of the sweeter candies of the lithtech engine IMHO.
It's a fascinating topic and since I worked on underwater fx lately, I probably gonna give it a try soonish.
EDIT: Does anyone remember the last level of NOLF2, that plays on a little island? That was a great ocean! watched from the hills, the waves around the islands coast where looking very nice, one of the sweeter candies of the lithtech engine IMHO.