What specialties do you assign to your officers?

[Grifter808]

For example, is it worth it to give one of your officers the 'flak gunner' specialty? It didn't seem to make a difference when I did it. Does it just decrease the reload time? I had a qualified flak gunner at the post. Does it help with accuracy at all?

I guess this question also goes for the 'gunner' specialty.

[August]

I have one of each on my boat.

[Grifter808]

Does it make them more efficient? Or needing less men to operate the electric engines, for example, the only benefit?

[Jace11]

I'm a real obsessive compulsive when it comes to this.

On starting a campaign, I take quite a while clicking the barracks screen trying to get good officers.

I usually keep the deck watch officer with the "Watch" and "Guns" badge. (I upgrade him with a flak badge early as possible)

Then I have to have an engine room officer:- "Watch" "Machinist" "Repair"

Then two "Watch" "Helm" "Machinists" (sometime a Watch Helm Medic instead) One is the Chief Engineer, The second I class as navigator

And one "Watch" "Helm" "Torpedo"

(second watch officer/ torpedo guy...)

Da daaaa... that's my crew.

Also, I prefer it if they all look different to avoid confusion, most with hats (if possible) and blue overalls for engine officer and maybe the CI.

As you can imagine, it takes ages to get it right, and often I dont "buy" the last member of my crew till after the first patrol, as 1500 renown doesn't cover everything.

[Duncan Idaho]

I'm a real obsessive compulsive when it comes to this.

Heheh, I wasn't gonna post, cause I'm the same way.

I go for:

Two Petty Officers in Radio room, both have Radio. (These are the first two qualifications I assign!)

Watch officer: Watch, Repair, Flak (Watch officer gets repair as soon as sonar/radio guys get their qualifications).

Engine Room has an officer with Mechanical, Repair and Medic. Two PO's in each engine room with Mechanical, the officer moves between the rooms on his own, both stay fully crewed, if I have enough men.

CE: Machinist, Helm, Repair

NO: Helm, Medic, Repair

WP: Helm, Torpedo, Gunner

Both planesmen are Petty Officers, and have helm, as does the ballast guy. (guess that's what you call him),

In the torpedo room, I have two PO's with Torpedo, and an officer with Torpedo, Repair, and Medic.

Engine Room has an officer with Mechanical, Repair and Medic. Two PO's in each engine room with Mechanical, the officer moves between the rooms on his own, both stay fully crewed.

On the tower, I have one Petty officer with Watch, and 3 crewman. I try to get enough PO's to have one flak gunner for each flak gun I have, and one for the deck gun, if any.

Any petty officers I have left get Repair. Oh, and I keep a medic PO permanantly assigned in each berthing compartment.

Takes a while getting all those qualifications, but when done, repairs are virtually automatic in most compartments. Bonus though, if submerged getting depth charged, my watch officer is free, doing nothing, so he leads a repair team which I place those PO's with repair ability, and a bunch of sailors, and I move them to the room with worst damage or flooding. Works extremely well for me.

This is the crew for my XXI (actually WAS the crew for my now dead career :( ), but when using an IX I try to do similar, and I get as close as I can to the same setup on a VII, as well. In all cases, I fill the boat with max people.

[gws226]

here is the current traits I use

RUB:

watch officer: Watch, Gunner, Flak
Chief Engineer: helm/repair
navigator: Helm
Weapon Officer: helm
Reserve officers:
1. Watch, Machine, Torp
2. Torp/ Machine

Warrent officers:
3- Watch
3- Torp
3-machine
1- Sonar
1- Repair
2- Flak
1- Helm (although this is probably useless)

I honestly don't think assigning sonarman to your radioman will make much of a difference., also the Deck gun is so slow in RUB and ineffective, that I don't bother using it (I put 6 shells into a elco torp boat and it didn't go down) Even small merchants almost expend all my Shells to take out.

I think its a solid balance for cruising and battle stations. This gives me the ability to run both torpedo rooms at max efficiency, as well as the engine compartment.... and the reserve Watch officer is always clutch.

If I wasn't playing with RUB, I would probably substitute a Torp and machine for Medic and Gunner. I would also assign one of Officers with the medic ability.

[August]

I went for redundancy in case of casualties

Watch officer : Watch, Guns, Flak
Engineer: Repair, Engines, Torpedo
Navigator: Helm, Watch, Torpedo
Weapon Officer: Torpedo, Helm, Repair
Spare officer: Medic, Torpedo, Repair

The Petty officers you can see below:

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzep1c8b/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/crew.jpg

[Ula Jolly]

I actually go for shifts:
Officers:
Two helm (one of which has repair duties as well)
One gunner/medic
Two watch

Petty officers:
Two radios
Three torps
One flak (should have given someone else that one)
Two machinists (plus 14 sailors, 7 to each machine shift)
Two watch

In the combat zone, depending on the task ahead (single or two ships), both radios are assigned.

[Seminole]

I assign the qualifications needed to get each department up to 100% efficiency without a comissioned officer present in the department.

[Type941]

I have:

2 Radar guys
4 Torpedo
2 Machinist
1 watch officer
1 medic


---
from commanders:
1 - (in tower) - Flak/Gun/Watch
2-4 Helm station, plus a repair skill on one of them
5 - Machinist/Repair/Torpedo

I have a Gold Cross medal for Machinist and one of Helmsman - to always make sure my boat keeps going. ;)

I'm in 8th patrol, so I intend to get much more torpedo guys and machinist.


--------
About the flak gunner :

I anticipate yuo lose the gun towards the end of the war - so no point wasting skills on the gunner.
Also, the watch officer with 3 skills (number 1 on my list) is the best combo - you get him on top, and reload is very quick. IF you put more skilled gunners - it won't speed up the process, just make them more expensive cannon fodder. Don't bother. :hmm:

[Ula Jolly]

South of Ireland, west of Brest, in calm seas in 40, 41 and 42, you might want the gunner to take out merchants. :sunny:

[Type941]

South of Ireland, west of Brest, in calm seas in 40, 41 and 42, you might want the gunner to take out merchants. :sunny:

You mean you get attacked a lot and losing top officer is not nice? :)

[DerKaleun]

My Fellows are as follows.

Officers

I.WO Helm, Watch, Torpedo,

II. WO Helm, Flak, Gunner

LI. Helm, Mechanic, Machinist

Obermaschinist: Machinist, Mechanic

Obersteuermann: Helm, Medic, Watch


Petty Officers differs. Mostly 4 Torps, 2 Machinists, 1 Medic, 2 Radar/Sonar, 1 Medic, 1 Helm plus other stuff...

[August]

I've found that now i have a bemedaled crew it takes a lot less of them to handle the ship. I could easily get rid of an officer, several POs and probably 10-12 sailors, and still run all the compartments with max efficiency.

[pampanito]

Hey, August!
Where did you find these Officer images? And how did you manage to have different ones in the lower-left row and in the boat profile?

I use the 'Das Boot' officers downloaded from Subsim, but they just change the lower-left row.

[tycho102]

I absolutely agree with Duncan. Two radiomen, without question, first. Give them whatever medals you earn, too. Iron crosses and the works.

As far as officers, it really varies. I tend to think you need a machinist (I'm talking about starting in 1939, here) before anything else. You usually have a watch officer, watch monkey (petty officer) and three torpedomen, and that's enough. Two engine monkeys and an officer will give you an extra knot while you're on time-compression and cruising toward your destination. Even more important underwater on batteries.

After that, just about anything works. A medic will help out your enlisted personel, but you really need to cross-rate him with navigator or something, so he's useful when he's sleeping and on duty. I usually cross-rate my watch officer to torpedo, since I'm usually underwater when launching torps. However, having a watch/flak gunner will crank that green bar across like no other combination in the world.

Once you get a couple radiomen, and an officer machinist, the most important thing is the distribution of medals. You need to give your radiomen top priority, but your machinist and watchmen should come next, in that order. After that it's up for dibbs, except for the medical guys. Meds should get medals very last, because they are most useful in the bunks.

Cross rating all officers with medic is a good idea, because of the boost in regeneration.

[iambecomelife]

I absolutely agree with Duncan. Two radiomen, without question, first. Give them whatever medals you earn, too. Iron crosses and the works.

As far as officers, it really varies. I tend to think you need a machinist (I'm talking about starting in 1939, here) before anything else. You usually have a watch officer, watch monkey (petty officer) and three torpedomen, and that's enough. Two engine monkeys and an officer will give you an extra knot while you're on time-compression and cruising toward your destination. Even more important underwater on batteries.

After that, just about anything works. A medic will help out your enlisted personel, but you really need to cross-rate him with navigator or something, so he's useful when he's sleeping and on duty. I usually cross-rate my watch officer to torpedo, since I'm usually underwater when launching torps. However, having a watch/flak gunner will crank that green bar across like no other combination in the world.

Once you get a couple radiomen, and an officer machinist, the most important thing is the distribution of medals. You need to give your radiomen top priority, but your machinist and watchmen should come next, in that order. After that it's up for dibbs, except for the medical guys. Meds should get medals very last, because they are most useful in the bunks.

Cross rating all officers with medic is a good idea, because of the boost in regeneration.

To you guys who think radiomen are a priority - how much more of a difference do two radiomen make than one? Do you get a lot more hydrophone contacts?

[August]

Hey, August!
Where did you find these Officer images? And how did you manage to have different ones in the lower-left row and in the boat profile?

I use the 'Das Boot' officers downloaded from Subsim, but they just change the lower-left row.

The files you want to modify are in this folder.

C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\SilentHunterIII\data\Menu\Data\oface s

There are two files for each icon.

The single pic version (Off###.tga) is used in the attributes box when you click on an officers icon in the F7 screen, and the icon itself (Off###_0.tga) which is a "collage picture" with several images of the each face in their various states.

You'll also need to find out what index number your officers are using. See this thread for details:

http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=41286

Here's a guide for matching oface files with index numbers. Note that the Das Boot ones aren't default pics :D :
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzep1c8b/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ofindexdasbootproj.jpg

[Damo1977]

Mostly coffins at the moment!!

[Apocal]

Does the helm qualification actually do anything? I have several officers and one petty officer rated for it, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

[August]

Does the helm qualification actually do anything? I have several officers and one petty officer rated for it, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I kept two navigation rated officers only which seems to be more than enough, especially once they get enough medals to stay on duty for an entire patrol.

[Duncan Idaho]

To you guys who think radiomen are a priority - how much more of a difference do two radiomen make than one? Do you get a lot more hydrophone contacts?

I don't get more sonar contacts, nor has the range changed. Of course, my sonar guy gets the first qualification I give. Radio man gets the second, and what I do get is more map contacts. LOTS more map contacts. Radar appears to be better too, contacts called off at greater range.

To Apocal: I have noticed, (though it could be argued), that if I give my planesman and ballast guy helm qualifications, I seem to have better luck staying at or close to periscope depth in storms. But again, that could be completely subjective. I had the qualifications to pass out anyway, someone was gonna get them. They aren't a priority for me.