Promotions
 

I'm wondering how to improve my rank. On average I pull in between 20000-40000tons per patrol. I'm on my eighth patrol but have not had a promotion yet, my crew has had at least five though. My current rank is Oberleutnant z. S

I think promotions are based on renown, at least with the stock game and GWX, and the percentage of possible renown you get for your sinkings and other achievements is based on your realism settings. If you're playing at less than 100% realism you won't get the maximum renown for your tonnage and promotions will take longer.

Also if you're using renown to buy upgrades to your boat or enlist experienced crewmen, it will take even longer to get to the next rank.

IIRC the renown required to move up to each rank in turn is near the beginning of the basic.cfg file in your data/Cfg folder. You can always check that and compare it to your current renown as shown in the game to see how close you're getting to the next level.

I think one of the other supermods may use tonnage instead of renown, but you can probably still find the relevant lines in the appropriate game file and see where you're at.

Well I guess I should be close then, i play with only the external cam (95% I think) and the only renown I've spent was on a better weapons officer.

Also I'd imagine that better radio-men (Hydrophone/Radio) will pick up ships better?

Yes they will, but you don't have to buy them. Use SH3 Commander to give medals, badges and promotions to whomever you want, and as many as you want. And sometimes you'll get experienced guys transferring in for free anyway.

Only if he buys them a drink first.

*rim shot*

I kill me!

But seriously, folks - yeah, I would hope so. I always use Commander to give my radio and sonar dudes a Radioman qualification after our first patrol, which so far has always been a pre-war one. Haven't played a career long enough after that yet to notice how much difference there is as their combat experience grows over time.

That would be nice. Always seems to work the other way 'round for me, lol. I give a guy a Gunner qualification and think "well I've got THAT covered" and then as soon as I load the game I get a pop-up saying he was injured in a car wreck while on shore leave, or arrested by the local police for public drunkenness. :O:

In my first career I made it to 45' with one hellof an experienced crew, They grow experience fairly quick.

As your crew gain experience they tend to pivk up medals which in turn gives them more resilience and endurance....keep them and they will eventually reward you.

I've tried assigning medals and promotions through Commander but it doesnt seem to take effect in game for some reason.Have I been doing something wrong?

Cheers.

Are you saving the changes?

I would probably have to say no Jim,I made the changes then came out of Commander expecting the changes to have taken effect automatically.How stupid of me.
Do you save the changes the same way as you would save say,an edited document like a .cfg file?

Thanks.

The "save changes" function is built right into the Commander interface.

When you're in Commander and make any alterations to a crewman's profile - promote him, award medals or qualifications - hit the Apply button. That saves the change.

If you don't hit the Apply button and click on something else that will "exit" that crewman's profile, though, you should get a popup box asking if you want to save the changes you just made. At least I do.

As per above :up:

When awarding qualifications in Commander, remember that only the first qualification to a petty officer "counts"... all else is eye candy.

And seaman qualifications don't count at all.

Good point, you can award quals in Commander for your own use in crew management but if it's something the game itself will not recognize, as noted above, it won't show up in your crew management screen there or have any effect on crew performance in the game.