Assigning crewmen, help wanted.
 

Hello ALL,

I was noticing on the Crew screen that there are 5 Stations (6 if you count 2nd Torpedeo area) and 5 skills. I also noticed that the skills don't seem to match up with the Stations.

What I was wondering is Which skills work best in which Station?

I think it should follow pretty logically.

Eg; Machinest belong in the engine room, Watchmen belong... on watch, torpedo trained in the torpedo rooms.

I havent really noticed any poorly assigned officers, Hrm maybe I need to look closer. :hmm:

Thanks SteamWake,

But as you can see by the lists below, it's not really that simple for some positions.

Skills:
Electrical
Guns
Leadership
Mechanical
Watchman

Specializations:
Command
Engines
Guns
Sensors
Torpedoes
Watch

Stations:
After Torpedo Room
Engine Room
Control Room
Conning Tower
Forward Torpedo Room
Deck Watch
Aft Deck Gun
AA Gun
Damage Control


Now for the obvious,
------------------------------Specialization Skill
After/Forward Torpedo Room -- Torpedoes ___ ???
Engine Room ----------------- Engines _____ Mechanical
Control Room ----------------- Command ___ Leadership
Conning Tower ---------------- ??? ________ ???
Deck Watch ------------------ Watch ______ Watchman
Aft Deck/AA Gun ------------- Guns ________ Guns
Damage Control --------------

So to be more specific with my question, which skill would be best for Conning Tower and for Damage Control?

And I guess I'll also ask:
Which Specification would be best for Conning Tower, Torpedo Rooms and for Damage Control?

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but according to Kolmar over at the UBI forum the following is how the compartments are set up skill wise:

Thanks. This gives me useful information I didn't have. Now off to apply it...

Ok, so were does these Specializations go:

Torpedoes ___After/Forward Torpedo Room (I'm guessing :roll: )

Command & Leadership___In the Control Room & Conning Tower ? :hmm:

Watch & Watchman___Deck Watch ? :hmm:

Guns have 3 crewmen yet you show 170% with 4 skills :doh:

Torpedo rooms = torpedoes, engine room = engines, command room = command, watch = watch, guns = guns, and conning tower = sensors. I don't think gun specialization helps out any extra in the torpedo rooms but I have no quick way of finding out. I also have no idea what specialization the damage control section would be, if any.

The guns thing does seem a little odd, especially the part about electrical, but I haven't had the attention span to sit down and actively test it.

I have. In at least one, and sometimes two, sections the game makes a petty officer the OOD and sticks the O-ganger in the conning tower. This is a violation of Navy Regs. A commissioned line officer, if one is alive, will be at the conn. If there are none alive the senior petty officer in one of the "deck" ratings (QM, Gunner's Mate, Boatswain, etc.) will take the conn. If a staff officer (Supply, Medical Corps, Nurse, etc.) who outranks that CPO is present, the petty officer will still take the conn.

Thanks Strikor,

That helps with assigning stations based on Specializations.

But, I'm still wondering about how the Skills plays a part in assigning to stations. Do the Crewmen Skills mean anything?

I don't know if skill: watch helps any more than a guy with the same watch level with another skill assignment. It could simply mean they start higher in that area.

The most curious one is "electrical"... Im assuming he belongs on the radar ?

It depends on his other skills. High mechanical would be best suited for the engine room or damage control, while a high watch skill would make him better suited for the conning tower which controls the sensors.

I would imagine that electrical is useful all accross the boat, especially in damage control, water and electric=bad:lol:

Personally i've actually noticed crewmen with high Watch (100+) get a bigger green bar when I put them in the AA gun than crewmen with a high gun

This very problem is why I asked the question in the 1st place. Specializations made sense, Skills did not.

I guess my totally naive question is does any of this crew stuff make any difference?
I can see where a skilled gunner may hit more often, but does a better watch keeper see stuff quicker, or a torpedo specialist load faster?
In fact when I tried to mix up the crew locations, it didn't make a noticeable difference.

Suplementary question: When I start a new career, should I fill the empty slots on my boat, including Damage Control?

This is really a big question for me too. But there is some good info in this thread I haven't seen before.

Another section for a future FAQ

How Do I Use My Crew (And Does It Matter?).

The only big difference I've seen is gunnery. But that's pretty obvious that people with better gun skills will hit things more often. Watch makes sense for the AA gun because your ability to see things accurately at longer ranges/higher speeds is a much bigger factor when shooting at specks overhead. But it sure as heck isn't the intuitive skill. I'd be thinking guns for AA as well.

I've also been reading about special skills that the crew can develop in other threads. I haven't seen it happen yet but I'm really curious how that works too.

Hello OddjobXL,

I think those "Special" Skills are those little Pics you see at the top of the Crewman sheet. The more Skilled someone seems to be, the more pics they get. When you point at them, they will tell you what they are for.

They seem to start out Light Yellow and end and Red. I think 4 is the max.

Not so sure as to how these work either as far as assigning. I would like to cross train 1 Crewman in many fields but I don't think you can as far as "Special" Skills go.

I know in SH3 the "performance bar" was directly releated to their fatique levels.

Thanks, Gspector. I didn't notice the color coding before. I'll have to look into that. What I was actually refering to were the special skills cited in this thread:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ading+speed%22

Things like "Fanatical Commander" or whathaveyou. How do you get them? What do they do? But without even having a strong grasp on how basic affinities and skills work, what do the numbers actually mean in terms of performance for example, I'm not sure how to take best advantage of these unique traits. Hey, Ubi guys - love ya - but help us out here! :D