Crew management SH III vs SH IV
 

Hi. Can anyone please tell me how crew management compares between SH III and SH IV? Is it less hassle in SH IV? Thanks.

MUCH less hassle. You don't have to tell the crewmen when to knock off work before they fall asleep at their post. They somehow know what shift they work and do it voluntarily unless you leave them at battlestations. In exchange the deck crew gets to take damage during a depth charge attack.

All in all I like the SH4 method much better.

Ditto
 

Concur with RR. I've just recently started a mission in SH3 with GWX and totally forgot about the "manual" method of handling the crew. I had to click and drag my Watch Officer up to the bridge every time we surfaced. I had to click and drag my crew members to simulate shift change so they wouldn't 'burn out'. As RR says all that goes away in SHIV as it's done for you, which is much more authentic.
So to answer your question; it is MUCH less hassle in SHIV.

How do you mean stock SH 4? Is there another kind where it's worse?

I do feel that I got more of a 'bond' with my SH3 crew.

Fill the empty slots on the first patrol and ignore for the rest of the war. That's how crew management works in SH4.

Except if your're using RFB, right ?

In SH4, and especially with RFB, an anomoly with the way the crew is handled by the hard-wired damage model makes deck crew take damage as if they were on deck even when your sub is submerged. in the stock game this is not a major problem.

In RFB the damage model has been tweaked so that if you're stupid enough to take on escorts on the surface they're going to sweep your deck clear of crewmembers with small arms fire. They're going to die.

This makes the deck crew take more damage during depth charge attacks than they would in the stock game. To make it possible for the sub to protect them, you should move them to Hogan's Alley SH3 style while submerged. I have forgotten without deadly consequences, but it is a great idea to protect them.

It's a little more trouble for a lot more realism in Real Fleet Boat. Your crew on deck should not be save while you execute a foolhardy attack, even on an armed merchant.

The best thing about the crew management system in SHIV is the three watch cycles - a really cool concept brought to life in the game. I used to hate sorting out each tired crew member in SH3, until I found the "no fatigue" option in SH3 Commander ;)

And as stated somewhere above, "Fill the empty slots on the first patrol and ignore for the rest of the war." Couldn't have been said any better :up:

Is SH 3 Commander a mod? Where can I find it?

SH3 Commander will allow you to make several changes to SH3 and you can download it from here

you don't have to manually sort out tired crew members in SH3.
just click one of the icons in the lower right corner of
the crew management screen, there's a battlestation and
repair team button too.
it's not that bad compared to SH4, except for watch crew rotation.

You guys make it sound like a fire and forget missile:p but it does sound right except for promotions, medals and replacement for dead crew.

crew management
 

Yes, micromanaging is annoying. After all, you are the CO, not every officer on the sub!

It is kinda more fun though to manually replace your crew and assign what they are up to. It just leaves that bit of extra realism of running a sub in I think. I felt more in touch with what was going on with my boat and my crew ultimately compared to SHIV.

Also, is RFB the main mod for SHIV?