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Old 05-11-10, 10:54 AM   #1
roverdog
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Default Crew Management & Other Questions

I just got SH4 and am running the stock 1.5 version. So far I have only one career as a US commander. I have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer.

The first concerns the training missions. How does completing these missions give you a boost when you start a new career?

Crew Management
The manual really doesn't go into much detail here, so are there any general tips on how to manage the crew? Everything seems to be run pretty smoothly without any input on my part. I'm on my fifth or sixth patrol so far. I did load up the Damage repair area with extra crewmen. Should I leave a few empty spaces here? I take it that crewman with high electrical and mechanical skills should be used here. Is one more important than the other? I also look at leadership when adding here.


What are the differences between Passive and Riposte abilities.? Can a crew member have both? If a crew member atains a passive ability, does this override their specialization? I have a Chief Petty Officer who is in charge of deck watch one who attained the radar passive ability. It says to move him to the radio room. Where is the radio room? Should I switch the CPO with someone else in the appropriate area?(It seems that this would reduce the overall ability of the deck watch as the new Petty Officer would have a different specialization)

Which areas would be best forcrewman with high Electrical, Mechanical or leadership abilities?

I have two Lieutenants who both have experiance readings of 0/20000. After 4 or 5 patrols they are the only ones with 0 experiance. This leads to another question. I tried to switch an officer when in port and couldn't as it said there were too many. What are the limits on the different ranks of officer's and petty officers? I take it you can only have so many of each.

What do I do with a wounded crew member?

Thanks in advance. I had quite a few other questions but found my answers in other posts but I'm sure I'll come up with more.


Steve

PS Once I've finished my career I'll have to check out som mods. Thanks in advance to all the hard work you've done on those.
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Old 05-11-10, 11:15 AM   #2
BillBam
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In stock my simple answer would be to leave crew alone and let the AI handle it.

Wounded crew will eventually heal as our patrol going on.

The mixing of abilities for an individual crew seems to be a game bug or just lazy programing, again just go with the flow. Some of the supermods will correct this especially RFB that has major crew changes and the ability to micro manage them.

For damage control I would just click on the button for activating the damage control team and again let AI handle things. If you must then have a variety of skills, an electrictian cannot handle engines as well as a machanic/maintenance skilled crew.
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Old 05-12-10, 07:14 PM   #3
roverdog
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Thanks
I do like playing with the crew. Gives me something to do on those long voyages to by patrol zone and back!

I mod SH4 but the decision is which one. I'll have fun trying them all out. I'm downloading RFB now.
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Old 05-12-10, 07:35 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roverdog View Post
Thanks
I do like playing with the crew. Gives me something to do on those long voyages to by patrol zone and back!

I mod SH4 but the decision is which one. I'll have fun trying them all out. I'm downloading RFB now.
Yes, try RFB and TMO. I did and I like TMO better. It's all a personal taste though
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Old 05-12-10, 08:10 PM   #5
Harmsway!
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RFB has a whole new crew management set up. It comes with a well put together document of all the neat crew details. You may want to read the doc before installing. If you like what you see go for it. I have RFB and love the new crew management it has.
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Old 07-03-10, 10:56 AM   #6
Major Johnson
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Awesome! I've been away for awhile, and I really want to get back into SH4, but previous attempts just had me giving up because of the learning curve and lack of a decent manual. I loved SH1, waited 10 yrs for the franchise to get back to the Pacific only to find the game too confusing, and crew management being one of the major stumbling blocks. But I'm going to download the latest version of RFB and give it another whack!
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Old 07-06-10, 08:24 PM   #7
Major Johnson
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BillBam View Post
In stock my simple answer would be to leave crew alone and let the AI handle it.
Will the stock game also take care of promotions?? I really don't want to be bothered with all the behind the scenes stuff. I just want my crew to get better as time goes on.
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Old 07-07-10, 03:56 AM   #8
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The file Ranks.upc has three ways to level up the crew.
Free - automatically levels the crewman when he reaches the experience needed
Base - leveling is done only at the base by the Captain
Restricted - only the player can be leveled to these ranks

For the stock game all ranks are set to free except CPO and ranks above Lt. Since the experience needed to level is set very low, a good captain can get get a boat with all first class petty officers in a hurry. This problem is compounded by the game ignoring its limit of officers and petty officers on a ship when promoting but limiting the number on the in port screen. You can not make enough changes to get a realistic crew mix.

Since the experience formula is the points gained on patrol and half the renown at the end of a patrol one good patrol can get a massive amount of promotions. Seaman to first class in one excellent patrol is not realistic but it happens.

The real Navy has time, education and recommendation requirement for promotion. In my time (1966 to 1972), you could not reach first class without re-enlisting for another 4 years. Making second class in your first enlistment was difficult, many had to extend their service several months to fulfill the advancement requirements.
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Old 07-07-10, 11:04 AM   #9
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Crew Mgt...I used to get rattled by the empty seats at the diving planes when I submerged until I watched the guages and saw the ghosts(AI I suspect)were taking care of everything just fine while not filling the stations with the deck crew. Submerged I went to GQ and the stations became manned and the conning tower filled up. BUT...according to the roster the deck crew was still vunerable to DC attack. SO....I'm not really all that excited about letting the AI handle the crew while submerged.
I'm thinking the micro-mgt approach might be better for the well being to my crew. Such as keeping them at interior stations unless surfaced.

Is the positioning of the deck crew hard wired into the main game engine or is there a way to let them shuffle to thier assigned positions under the appropriate circumstances presented, as a commanding officer would expect? I hope I don't sound bitter about this, I'm not. I just seems "babysitting"(especially when I'm plotting an approach) losses some of the realism too me.
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Old 07-07-10, 12:57 PM   #10
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Default some information

Here are two posts that may help.

what is the best configuration for a repair crew?

crew ratings
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Old 07-07-10, 03:01 PM   #11
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Greetings roverdog. As far as the training missions go, personally, I only found them helpful when I was first learning the game. They, at least, gave me an idea of what to expect under the various condition. I then played the stock version of SHIV for about a year w/o ever going back to the training missions. Crew management was quite a mystery to me at first so, I pretty much let the game handle most of it for me. I then slowly learned that the various abilities actually had a place in the overall crew assignments. As you may or may not know, members with high Mechanical and Gunnery ratings make ideal torpedomen. Members with high Electrical, Leadership and Visual ratings work well in the Control Room and those with high Electrical/Leadership ratings work well in the Conning Tower. I don't remember exactly where the radio room is but I know you can locate it by going to, and clicking on the Crew Management icon followed by clicking the Gear tab, or, i.e., where you'd check for hull damage. Then you just locate the radio on the left, click on it, and the room it's in will be high-lighted on the right (hope that makes sense).
I played RFB, it's a great MOD. You just gotta remember to move (all) your Deck Watch crews to Hogan's Alley during a DC attack or you might find some casualties. The Riposte, I think as the word applies, is a counter-measure and only used for short durations. Passive abilities are always on the job, automatically. As far as Lieutenants go, once they get past J.G., they've reached their full rank and no more experience need apply for promotion purposes.
Anyway, I haven't had a chance to fully read all of the replies so, I hope this isn't all moot and serves some purpose for you. Right now, I'm playing TMOwtw and lovin' it. All the Mods have their own strengths and weaknesses (depending on how you look at it) but, it's all a matter of (fun) preference.
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Old 07-07-10, 07:59 PM   #12
Raven79
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Steelkilt:
Normally your boat is considered fully manned when every seat is taken except repair crew and gun crews.
Those were taken off other stations if needed. I usually use the last 3 guys of my deck watch for the guns and recruit the repair crew from everywhere in the boat.

This way, my crew is always safe when submerged and noone has to do triple shifts.
Also, if for instance your tower was hit, there are 6 people in it at battle stations. They will do some repairs, yes, but if you give them a repair crew of 10 people from other compartments on top of that, you've got 16 people doing the repairs all at the same time. Huge timesaver. I usually compose my repair crew of the 6 mechanics I got in the torpedo rooms (one on bow, one on stern, per shift that is) plus some engine room guys (free watch perhaps). They're really knowing what they do. If however one of those three compartments got hit (engine or torp rooms), I recruit people from deck watch instead of those in the damaged compartment, to get a maximum of hands working my problem.

As for micro management.. I'll post on it when I get home. So don't ask yet why I throw mechanics in the torp rooms
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Old 07-09-10, 03:48 PM   #13
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If you are in a GATO class the average size of the crew was 83. The Archerfish 8 patrols had a low of 81 and a high of 88 on board. Filling up the Damage Control slots is historically correct as far as numbers go. There were crew without action stations that made up the damage control team. This is why you could hear the skipper order the cooks to the galley to feed the crew at action stations IRL.
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Old 07-10-10, 12:02 AM   #14
Steelkilt
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Raven...Aren't the gun stations out in the open for depth charge attacks? Seems I remember loosing an Ensign out there once...SK

"Sailor Man" mmmmm I's better sees if cookie got me me spinitch fer the fighten...
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Old 07-10-10, 01:30 AM   #15
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Default steelkit is on target, so to speak.

If you man the guns when submerged, those sailors are vulnerable to air and sea attack.
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