Well that's interesting, because I also only promote within the bands and once a seaman has reached top whack I dismiss him for his PO training. I generally stick to these rough guidelines:
Realistic Crew Transfers on to have a little uncertainty about who's gonna get into a bar fight this month...lol.
All crew earn Uboat Badge after 2nd (war) patrol once available.
Matrosengefreiter: Promoted at 50 exp (Upper rank limit is 20) and assigned engine room duties or helm.
Matrosenobergefreiter: Promoted at 100 exp (upper rank limit is 50) and assigned torpedo duty moving onto repair as they gain exp.
Matrosenhauptgefreiter: Dismissed for PO training at 150 exp (upper rank limit is 100). All positions left free by crew dismissals are filled by the highest exp lower rank and new Matrosengefreiters brought into the engine room.
Bootsman: Promoted at 200 (Upper rank limit is 150).
Stabsbootsman: Promoted at 300 (Upper rank limit is 200).
Stabsoberbootsman: Dismissed for Officer training at 450 (Upper rank limit is 300).
My officers I leave in place and the only time they leave is through the realistic crew transfer setting. I promote them on merit as opposed to exp.
As you can see, I try and emulate the idea that as you rise in rank, promotion comes less often. I have a similar setup to decide whether crew members qualify for awards or not, depending on length of service, exp, any crucial events that they were involved in (Flak gunning, Deck gunning, repairing stuff, etc).
It's a science, and one made possible by SH3Commander. I didn't even know you could promote across bands in game, I played very little stock before I started using Commander.
Thankyou JScones!!
