SH3Commander

[scunnygsi]

Just wondered if anyone uses this program to update their crew with qualifications rather than waiting to earn the promotions in the actual game

[Gerald]

I do not do it, even if there is a possibility, even I use the Commander of SH3 with the other settings, but I know there are some who do updates with crew members, :yep:

[Gargamel]

Me Me Me!

Only because keeping track of crew is a pain. I like to keep my watchmen separate from the gunners, and the repair men go off to their space as soon as we set sail.

I figure a crewmember would be assigned to a task, might as well give him the qualification now so I can tell them apart. I understand becoming qualified in a department was time consuming process, but considering how screwed up crew management is in SH3 (I run no fatigue model), it's the only way I can do it.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/998/sh3img622011204557625.png

Poor Joachim there is the cook.

[desirableroasted]

Just wondered if anyone uses this program to update their crew with qualifications rather than waiting to earn the promotions in the actual game

Qualifications, yes.



Since an "unqualified" petty officer is a contradiction in terms, I qualify all of my POs after their first patrol (1 qual each). They wouldn't be petty officers unless they are qualified.
For the same reason, I never qualify sailors.
I kit out officers with 1, 2 or 3 quals depending on rank.

Promotions, yes. If the sailor, PO or officer has the points, then yes. Promotions are a largely bureaucratic exercise in most navies.

Medals, guided somewhat by the game, and award through SH3Commander. Since the number of medals are largely determined by the success of the patrol, I usually follow the game suggestion. Awarding though SH3 Commander is just easier than the game interface.

[Gerald]

Me Me Me!

Only because keeping track of crew is a pain. I like to keep my watchmen separate from the gunners, and the repair men go off to their space as soon as we set sail.

I figure a crewmember would be assigned to a task, might as well give him the qualification now so I can tell them apart. I understand becoming qualified in a department was time consuming process, but considering how screwed up crew management is in SH3 (I run no fatigue model), it's the only way I can do it.

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/998/sh3img622011204557625.png

Poor Joachim there is the cook. How can you have sailors with the repair, I thought it was only the PO, if you did not make your own mods..

[frau kaleun]

You can assign qualifications to any crewman in Commander, including all the non CO/PO sailors. It doesn't have any effect on gameplay, meaning that a sailor "qualified" in repair is not worth more in terms of compartment efficiency than one who isn't, all other things being equal. But he will still have the qualification icon in the game's crew management screens. It's useful if you want to attempt some kind of 'realistic' crew management with, for instance, separate Seamen's and Technical divisions with duties assigned accordingly. If you have the icons on them in the game it's easy to see who is part of which division and what their primary duties are.

I played around with it in my last career and liked it, this time around I actually made a separate crew list and assigned more realistic "ranks" to all the men based on their in-game rank + their area of specialty. So the highest ranking PO who is qualifed for radio/sonar is the Oberfunkmaat, the highest ranking POs with Maschinist quals are the Diesel and Elektro Obermaschinists, the highest ranking PO in the Seamen's division is the Oberbootsmann, etc. The NO is my IIIWO and Obersteuermann and I don't count him as a commissioned officer even though the game considers him to be one.

I'm not sure how well this will play out when it comes to promotions, transfers, and replacements, but I'm only on my second combat patrol so I haven't crossed that bridge yet. :D

[desirableroasted]

How can you have sailors with the repair, I thought it was only the PO, if you did not make your own mods..

Some people give sailors "quals," even though they don't count, for crew management "eye candy" purposes. I used to, myself, before it became too tedious.

But you are right, and this point cannot be made often enough to new players: only one qualification "works" for POs, and no qualification "works" for sailors.

In fact, you can run a VII with no sailors at all. Only officers and POs. You probably shouldn't run a career that way, but try some single missions with all your sailors beached. You won't notice their absence.

[Gerald]

You can assign qualifications to any crewman in Commander, including all the non CO/PO sailors. It doesn't have any effect on gameplay, meaning that a sailor "qualified" in repair is not worth more in terms of compartment efficiency than one who isn't, all other things being equal. But he will still have the qualification icon in the game's crew management screens. It's useful if you want to attempt some kind of 'realistic' crew management with, for instance, separate Seamen's and Technical divisions with duties assigned accordingly. If you have the icons on them in the game it's easy to see who is part of which division and what their primary duties are.

I played around with it in my last career and liked it, this time around I actually made a separate crew list and assigned more realistic "ranks" to all the men based on their in-game rank + their area of specialty. So the highest ranking PO who is qualifed for radio/sonar is the Oberfunkmaat, the highest ranking POs with Maschinist quals are the Diesel and Elektro Obermaschinists, the highest ranking PO in the Seamen's division is the Oberbootsmann, etc. The NO is my IIIWO and Obersteuermann and I don't count him as a commissioned officer even though the game considers him to be one.

I'm not sure how well this will play out when it comes to promotions, transfers, and replacements, but I'm only on my second combat patrol so I haven't crossed that bridge yet. :D Then you'll have to speed up a little now, but I did anyways response to a question, thank you, :up:

[Gerald]

Some people give sailors "quals," even though they don't count, for crew management "eye candy" purposes. I used to, myself, before it became too tedious.

But you are right, and this point cannot be made often enough to new players: only one qualification "works" for POs, and no qualification "works" for sailors.

In fact, you can run a VII with no sailors at all. Only officers and POs. You probably shouldn't run a career that way, but try some single missions with all your sailors beached. You won't notice their absence. Thanks I got it, :salute:

[Sailor Steve]

Petty Officers should always be qualified. That's why they are POs. The game is wrong.

[Gargamel]

Petty Officers should always be qualified. That's why they are POs. The game is wrong.

that was my thinking. I could see one or maybe 2 brand new PO's not being Qual'd in something, but I would have imagined the majority would know their jobs before even stepping on the boat.

[Jimbuna]

Petty Officers should always be qualified. That's why they are POs. The game is wrong.

Yes that is true but easily and quickly rectified using Commander.

[Sailor Steve]

that was my thinking. I could see one or maybe 2 brand new PO's not being Qual'd in something, but I would have imagined the majority would know their jobs before even stepping on the boat.
Even as an E-2 I was already assigned to be a radioman, before I even saw a ship. Three months of RM school and I was probably never going to be anything else. Once aboard I spent all my time in the radio shack, and when I made E-4 I would have been classified 'Radioman Third Class', which is a Petty Officer. That's the way it works.

Yes that is true but easily and quickly rectified using Commander.
I thought using Commander to qualify POs was the point of the thread. :sunny:

[scunnygsi]

Forgetting commander then, if i had 5 PO's with torps quals would they load quicker than 5 PO's without the quals ? or is it not factured into the gameplay and just purely "eyecandy"

[frau kaleun]

Forgetting commander then, if i had 5 PO's with torps quals would they load quicker than 5 PO's without the quals ? or is it not factured into the gameplay and just purely "eyecandy"

The first qualification given to a PO is never eye candy, it will be recognized by the game and factored into gameplay.

IIRC Commander lets you give two quals to a senior PO but I don't think the game recognizes the second one as a factor in his performance.

However keep in mind that once the "efficiency bar" above a compartment is 100% green it is running at 100% efficiency and putting in more men who are qualified in the relevant specialty will not give you any more improvement in the compartment's performance. If the compartment efficiency is already maxed out, you'd be wasting quals if you gave them out for the sole purpose of increasing it.

[Gargamel]

The first qualification given to a PO is never eye candy, it will be recognized by the game and factored into gameplay.

IIRC Commander lets you give two quals to a senior PO but I don't think the game recognizes the second one as a factor in his performance.

However keep in mind that once the "efficiency bar" above a compartment is 100% green it is running at 100% efficiency and putting in more men who are qualified in the relevant specialty will not give you any more improvement in the compartment's performance. If the compartment efficiency is already maxed out, you'd be wasting quals if you gave them out for the sole purpose of increasing it.

A side effect of this is when you promote (and maybe give them medals, but taht could affect fatigue only, not sure). If it took an Officer and 5 PO's plus some seamen to get a compartment to 100%, 8 patrols later, that compartment may be at 120% (with no effect on the game). So it might be a good idea to run < 100% early in your career and let the men grow into their jobs. This will allow you to reassign "extra" PO's as you need.

[frau kaleun]

A side effect of this is when you promote (and maybe give them medals, but taht could affect fatigue only, not sure). If it took an Officer and 5 PO's plus some seamen to get a compartment to 100%, 8 patrols later, that compartment may be at 120% (with no effect on the game). So it might be a good idea to run < 100% early in your career and let the men grow into their jobs. This will allow you to reassign "extra" PO's as you need.

:yep:

Yep, I'm pretty sure that if you retain all or at least most of your original crew throughout many successful patrols, compartment efficiency will increase even if you leave the same bunch of guys together in each one. Even a guy who doesn't get promoted gains something in the way of experience each time out, so efficiency tends to increase one way or the other (provided you're not having all your more experienced men constantly replaced by n00bs). Just as it would, I imagine, with a real crew that grows accustomed to working together over time.

[desirableroasted]

IIRC Commander lets you give two quals to a senior PO but I don't think the game recognizes the second one as a factor in his performance.

It does not.

By the way, another good thing about using SH3 Commander to manage qualifications is that it lets you get rid of qualifications that add zero to the game (helmsman) or little, if any (medic).

[Gargamel]

How can you have sailors with the repair, I thought it was only the PO, if you did not make your own mods..

I used Commander, I do that so I can keep the sailors straight. I like having them assigned duties. It has no effect on the game, just organizational.

[Gerald]

I used Commander, I do that so I can keep the sailors straight. I like having them assigned duties. It has no effect on the game, just organizational.I thought that the picture of the boat, I saw that you had seamen with repair Qualifications, I thought that only the PO could have been so, as I only have.

[perky416]

Hi everyone,
I have a quick question,

I am half way through a career, have gave my crew promotions and medals, if i install SH3 commander, will i have to restart my career for the changes to take effect, and will my crew loose their medals and promotions?

Thanks

[Gerald]

Hi everyone,
I have a quick question,

I am half way through a career, have gave my crew promotions and medals, if i install SH3 commander, will i have to restart my career for the changes to take effect, and will my crew loose their medals and promotions?

Thanks Your crew will retain what you have given, and then start a new mission without any problems.

[Jimbuna]

I thought using Commander to qualify POs was the point of the thread. :sunny:

Perhaps I missed the point of the thread :doh:

:O:

[scunnygsi]

[QUOTE=By the way, another good thing about using SH3 Commander to manage qualifications is that it lets you get rid of qualifications that add zero to the game (helmsman) or little, if any (medic).[/QUOTE]

Does this mean i can take the helmsman qualification off my officers as it has no relevance on the game mechanics ? you learn something new every day

[Sailor Steve]

qualifications that add zero to the game (helmsman)
Are we playing two different games? I have two POs with Helmsman qual, with two different ranks, and when I switch them out the green bar certainly does move.

[scunnygsi]

could that be down to the different ranks and thus experience of the PO's ?

[Sailor Steve]

could that be down to the different ranks and thus experience of the PO's ?
Possibly. The next time I play SH3 I'll replace him with an ordinary seaman and see what happens.

[desirableroasted]

Qualifications don't matter a bat in the control room. As long as you have officers -- any officers, qualified or not -- you will maneuver as if you had Uncle Karl's personal staff on board. You will dive, surface, turn, put topside watches, etc. as quickly as if you had an elite crew.

Do some throwaway careers out in the harbor... or go out to the North Sea and play with neutrals. You will find you could load out with rank n00bs or an experienced crew and your boat will handle the same.

Qualifications in the game count here, and only here:


Dedicated repair POs and officers.
Your sonarmen and watch officers for their acuity, though yours will always be better.
Your torpedomen, for loading faster.
Some machinists

Don't bother with:


Helmsmen, ever
Medics... lots of threads, but generally say it is of low value
Officers as radiomen .. useless.