Crew Management FAQ

[ancient46]

There seems to be a little confusion for new captains about Crew Management so here is a little FAQ to help out. As anything in game editing be careful to follow instructions exactly. Never modify any file without first saving an original backup. Never ever, never never ever!! Are we clear on that?
Please post any other questions you want and the community will try and answer them.I will add them to the FAQ.

Why can't I replace an officer, Chief or Petty Officer with a better one? The game has a coded limit of 6 Officers/Chiefs and 32 Petty Officers For all Classes. A fleet boat is stocked with 12 Officers/Chiefs and 39 Petty Officers. An s Class is stocked with 10 Officers and 28 Petty Officers.The game engine can exceed the limits any time it wants, but you can not. For you to repalce any of the starter crew you have to dismiss crew members until you reach Limit -1.
How can I fix this? This example is for a Gato class Sub. Open this folder in the Sh4 FolderData\Submarine\NSS_Gato. Open the file NSS_Gato.upc in Notepad and add the following lines after the entry "MenuSilhouetteTextureName" and save.
MaxPettyOfficers=52 ; max number of crewmembers over rank 4
MaxOfficers=14 ; max number of crewmembers over rank 7

The Game keeps promoting Petty Officers at sea I want to control promotions. Open the Data\UPCData\UPCCrewData\Ranks.upc in Notepad.Change all the Petty Officer ranks line LevelUp=Free to LevelUP= Base

I am getting the same Special Abilities when Second class Petty Officers are promoted. I don't want that. This is a hard one to stop since the Ability is a random choice. It would require a lot of editing of Saves in port. This is beyond the scope of this FAQ. There is not a code to my knowledge to limit the number of crew with a special ability on a sub

I don't want any Special Abilities. I don't want a specific ability. Delete all or any [specialAbility #] entries in the Data\UPCData\UPCCrewData\SpecialAbilities.upc file.

I don't like the way the game stocks the subs. For the deck watch only, open the Data\UPCData\UPCUnitsData\UnitParts(number)(Sub Class).upc and Find this line IDLinkCrewMember= in the CrewMember Slots and place the ranking you want there. Do this in for all the start and upgrade sections in the file. For the rest of the crew open \Data\Submarine\NSS_(sub class)\NSS_(sub class).upc file and replace the entry on the IDLinkCrewMember= to the entry you want. (For example PO3c-Torpedo)

[groomsie]

The Game keeps promoting Petty Officers at sea I want to control promotions. Open the Data\UPCData\UPCCrewData\Ranks.upc in Notepad.Change all the Petty Officer ranks line LevelUp=Free to LevelUP= Base

Great reference idea...now my question. What if I do want the game to promote POs at sea? I'm running v1.5 with TMO 1.6.2 and RSRDC as my major mods...TMO 1.6.2 restored the seamen promotions to automatic, but PO promotions are manual in port. I'd like this aspect to be automatic and go back to what was under v1.4, where the only manual promotions were seaman to PO3 and PO1 to chief. Can this be done?

[ancient46]

[/quote] Great reference idea...now my question. What if I do want the game to promote POs at sea? I'm running v1.5 with TMO 1.6.2 and RSRDC as my major mods...TMO 1.6.2 restored the seamen promotions to automatic, but PO promotions are manual in port. I'd like this aspect to be automatic and go back to what was under v1.4, where the only manual promotions were seaman to PO3 and PO1 to chief. Can this be done?[/quote]

LevelUp=Free will do what you want. The instructions given will have an effect on the next time you start a career. To change it in the present game you would have to change that line in the ActiveUserPlayerUnits.upc Find this section [UserPlayerUnit 1.Compartment#.CrewMemberSlot #.CrewMember.Rank] (# is the number assigned to the compartment or crew slot) and change the "LevelUp=" line to free for all the enlisted men. After that you will have auto promotions.

I don't like free promotions because I like to keep a realistic crew mix and the game does not. At the end of the war a crew of 20 Chiefs and 60 first class Petty Officers is not what I want.

[groomsie]

Agree on more "authentic" crew mix ancient46, but in doing a 15% to 33% crew rotation (which I believe was historically the norm) I find I can barely keep adequate crew so the auto promote (like in v1.4) tended to work better for me in that regard. I've had to rotate fewer guys out because of the way v1.5 does promotions, and still have to make allowances...

For example, to have a senior LT(jg) or a LT ready to assume duties as XO you need to "grow them yourself" from Ensign...in v1.4 you could take a jg or LT from the "pool" if you were willing to pay the renown, here in v1.5 it is not even an option. So, I find I need to watch that aspect.

Like you I don't want a crew of supermen either.