SH3 Commander Awards

[Uboatman]

Is there a guide on the rules of rewarding your crew, things like which crew member gets what awards/promotions etc? How do you determine skill allocation?

I've only ever used the stock version of giving awards, usually 1 skill allowed and some war badges, promotions etc
The temptation to create an uber crew is one I've always strived to avoid.

[Sailor Steve]

I make a false patrol at the beginning of each career - sail around the harbor and dock again - and then go into Commander and give every officer and PO a skill. The 1WO and 2WO already have the watch skill, so the 1WO gets Torpedo as a second and the 2WO gets Gunnery. I designate one Oberfanrich the Navigator, give him Watch as a skill and use him for a de facto 3WO, and then I start on the petty officers.

The fact is that there's no such thing as an unrated PO, it's what makes them a petty officer. You spend your days at sea as an unrated enlisted man studying for a rating. By the time you get that rating you're already pretty experienced.

In real life the U-Boat Badge was created in October 1939, and was normally awarded to every man who had completed two war patrols. I use Commander to hand them out after that date, and everyone who meets the criterion gets one. I give out medals only to crewmen who I think deserve them. If a man is wounded I make a note, because after he is healed the game won't recognize him as being injured and you can't award the badge. Commander overrides that, but you have to remember who it was.

[Uboatman]

Ok, good advice, thanks Steve. What about promotions and other medals though, with stock I always sorted them in priority first but eventually all crew would end up with the highest accolades as well as the officers.

[Sailor Steve]

I give one promotion per patrol, to the man who has the most experience in his curren rank (at my discretion, of course). Medals I'm very stingy with unless I think someone really earned it. I'm also using Commander's Realistic Career Length, so I'm usually not around long enough for everyone to be weighed down with tin trinkets.