Dedicated damage control team?

[Torvald Von Mansee]

I notice as I'm setting up my first career that it appears that I can actually fill up the entire damage control team w/new recruits or transfers from other positions. This doesn't feel entirely realistic. What's the deal on this?

(Sorry if this has already been asked somewhere else.)

[dcb]

This doesn't feel entirely realistic. What's the deal on this?
Realistic or not, I'm doing it all the time, because the alternative is even more unrealistic IMO: dragging sailors from their positions into the damage party and then reassigning them to their original jobs. I don't think IRL a captain would say: 'John, Jack, Jim and Bill, you're the damage party now. Move to your stations!'
This is an automated procedure and when a damage occurs each member of the damage party knows where he's supposed to be. If this were automated in SH4, it would look real, but the way it is, with the captain forced to manually place everyone to his damage station and then also remove the guy, it reminds me too much of the utterly unrealistic crew management system of SH3.

[Nuc]

It is not totaly unrealistic in that there are several engineering watch stations that are not modeled in the Sim's "regular" crew (e.g., Auxiliary and IC divisions). Since the engineering spaces do not require additional personnel at GQ, in the RW, the "extra" engineering ratings along with ratings like cooks, stewards, storekeepers, corpman et. al. would standby in the forward and after battery compartments as the DC team.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Oooh!!!! You're absolutely right!!! I forgot about the support crew (like the "grill sergeants")...they'd certainly have some sort of battle station!!!

[capt_frank]

I normally fill it up too. If it's a new career, I like to slam an Ensign into the lead position and fill the rest with new recruits, a few with engine and mechanical expertise. Then I promote as needed. I like to end up with a CPO (Sharkey of course) half way down the line imagining that I've now got two available groups to work on repairs, the Ensign's, who most likely now is a Lieuey, and Sharkey's group.

[aanker]

I like to leave one or two slots empty so I can sort/rotate the crew according to skills and abilities etc while on patrol before RTB. It makes figuring out awards and promotions easier for me later when in port. In port it is difficult to remember who deserves what.

Art