As I look into this functionality, this tool does not seem to be using a dynamic simulation, rather a series of textures and noise that combine to create a displacement map. I have used a height-map to simulate water before, though not on this scale, but my previous experience doesn't come close to the power of this tool.
The majority of control a user has over the ocean effect is through the ocean shader, with it the ocean's attributes can be accessed and customized. The shader holds some basic attributes which control the waves, using such attributes as WindUV and Wind Speed controls the waves direction and speed. But that is just the tip of the iceberg as there are options to control every aspect from wave height to specular shading.
An attribute called observer speed seems to generate the effect of the ocean moving past the camera, though I am not sure what use this will have if I have an animated camera in the scene or moving objects. So it is probably not something I will be using, although if I run out of time and need a faster render I could take out the camera and use this feature. I will experiment more with this feature at a later date.
The first thing I looked for with these attributes was any way to create a more chaotic pattern of waves, so that the scene could be as animated and eye catching as possible. Changing the Num Frequencies and wave turbulence modifiers increases the amount of noise applied to the mesh and diversity of the waves, resulting in a more aggressive ocean.
For more detail in the ocean I modified the Wave Length Min & Max values which changed the shape and formation of each wave, in my case I really want a choppy, stormy sea. So I spent some time tweaking these values to view their effect. These modifiers control the quality of each wave, with the minimum setting controlling fine detail, to a very precise degree.
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