Crew Fatigue

[Kip Chiakopf]

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to handle crew fatigue. I'm running GWX with Commander. I've been running without fatigue because every time I use it, my crew manages to collapse from exhaustion!

Any suggestions on how to handle it in terms of Commander settings and what I might do to learn how to use fatigue?

I think I'm missing out on an entire dimension of the game without it.

[Sailor Steve]

You're an addict. A junkie. Trust me on this.

I too tried it with fatigue off and just couldn't stand having them not rotate watches. This is fixed in SH4, but I can't live without all the cool stuff that's been done for SH3, so I live with it.

Here's what I do, and I think you might not like it. I start every career with a shakedown patrol. I sail around the harbor once and look at all the pretty sights, then dock again. Then I use Commander to assign jobs to all the petty officers. This is realistic as there is no such thing as an unrated PO - it's what makes them what they are.

Then I organize them and start the patrol. Every four hours I rotate everybody. The Navigator (I give him Watch status and call him my 3WO) goes to the bridge, the 1WO goes to the control room and the 2WO goes to bed. The enlisted guys rotate out, but only two shifts for them. I have two radiomen and two helmsmen. Only one of each is on duty. The assistant radioman and the two planesmen are lowly enlisted. I have three enginemen and five enlisted in each of the two shifts. I do this every four hours of game time, unless the weather is bad (most of the time) and then I do it every two hours. This is tedious, boring, makes the game last forever and I can't not do it! It's a sickness, but one I live with.

[Kip Chiakopf]

Sailor Steve, What fatigue setting do you use in Commander?

I just looked at your public profile. We have the same birthday, except I was born in 1948.

[Kip Chiakopf]

I admit it: I'm a junkie, too. As a fellow SHIII junkie, what Commander settings do you use?

[Jimbuna]

I like Steve's system but I've turned into a lazy basum over the years and disable crew fatigue in Commander :DL

[Sailor Steve]

Sailor Steve, What fatigue setting do you use in Commander?
I use GWX 8-hour.

I just looked at your public profile. We have the same birthday, except I was born in 1948.
Wow! That's rare! There are only 365 days in a year, and yet in 61 years I've only met one other person who said we shared a birthday. And two years older than me, too! I feel like a kid again! :O:

Make sure your birthday is listed in your profile, stick around and post enough so everybody knows you well, and next April they'll throw you a party in the General Topics section! (Daily birthdays show up at the bottom of the main forum directory).

[Sailor Steve]

I admit it: I'm a junkie, too. As a fellow SHIII junkie, what Commander settings do you use?
Oh gosh, let me see...

General Settings: Everything on.

Career Options: Everything on except 'Start At Sea'. I live for the sights in the harbors. At the start of the war I have 'Days In Base' set at 18, because I do a quick turnaround patrol on August 1 and then set out on the 19th with the other 13 boats sent out to "await further orders". After that it's always 'Random'.

Text Settings: I keep 'Hull Integrity' on, because while they didn't have a guage it is realistic to have some idea of how safe you were. With that in mind I also use h.sie's 'Colored Hull Integrity Indicator', which replaces the guage with three colors - green for Perfect, yellow for "Who knows?" and red for "Don't dive - period!"

Gameplay Settings:
Fatigue: GWX 8-hour
Water Clarity: 3 (I find it more realistic if I can't see past the bow of the boat)
Wave Height: Seasonal
8.8cm Reload: 10 seconds
10.5cm Reload: 12 seconds
Effects: Malfunctions (It's too early in the war for sabotage, but I will use it when the time comes)
Randomise Tonnage
Randomise Crush Depth

Time Compression: Too many things there to list. For now I'll just say it's set up to my liking.

Same with the Fonts settings.

[Gargamel]

Wow! That's rare! There are only 365 days in a year, and yet in 61 years I've only met one other person who said we shared a birthday. .

I spent 12 years as a paramedic. That roughly equals out to about 15,000 patients who tell me their birthday, and not ONE had mine.

[Sailor Steve]

Weird, ain't it?

@ Kip: I just looked at your location. Mine reads as a joke, but I'm actually up in Salt Lake City. If you ever get up this way drop me a PM before you come. My door is always open.

[GoDeep]

I really dislike the way crew fatigue has been done in SH3. It's totally unrealistic. In the middle of a convoy attack, my engine room crew suddenly decide they are rather tired and want to have a lie-down.... :o

That's why I disable crew fatigue entirely. In real life the commanding officer wouldn't have to concern himself with crew rotation. That being said, I do rotate my crew because I want everyone to gain experience. And besides being a demanding commander, I feel sorry leaving the same guys on the bridge for 2 weeks in an atlantic storm.... :D

[Sailor Steve]

Good point, GoDeep. Maybe next patrol I'll disable it and just switch everybody once per day, when I make my daily report.

[gt_magnus]

Are you completly sure what your crew did the night before the patrol? :D

[GoDeep]

I am completely sure I don't want to know that. ;)