[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

Dead is dead.

Of course. I would make an exception for the "death dive" bug, but any time that has happened it wouldn't let me fix it anyway.

Load externals only in good weather, one at a time, and always at a dead stop. If attacked during loading, give 60 seconds before getting underway, and "jettison" the torpedo (i.e. count that torpedo as "lost.")

Yep. I also don't load internals in bad weather unless I'm 50 meters or more down, and never reload when being chased by escorts. A ton of torpedo hanging from chains is a dangerous toy when you're at 15 degrees down bubble and turning as hard as you can. I fire my load, and that's that until I'm well away from trouble.

Attack only merchants unless forced otherwise by orders (Narvik, for example) or tactical situation. Zero renown credit for escorts: destroyers, ASW trawlers, etc (corrected later in career files) under any circumstances.

I don't worry about renown, as I never use it for anything, but like you I never attack any escort unless I feel I have absolutely no choice.

Any engine speed over 200 rpms must be justified by a reported target or immediate tactical situation.

Good idea. Never waste fuel.

Airplanes never engaged except where tactically required (harbor, loading externals, etc). No credit, ever, for planes (corrected later in career files).

Again our thinking is the same, though again the renown angle doesn't concern me.

Realistic loadout of torpedoes. I look at what the game "offers" and use dice to determine.

I just take what they give me.

At least one week on assigned station. Boat can "go after" nearby contacts in other sectors, but must do one week on station.
After one week on station, die are thrown every week. A "1" the first week means go home; all else is my option. The next week, "2" also means "go home." I would like to hear your views on this, as it is obviously random.

I've used a single six-sided die for years now, but I never go home until fuel or ammunition requires it. After a week on station I throw a die. A '1' means that I've been ordered to move to an adjacent grid, also selected by die. After two weeks I move on a '1' or '2', and so on. This is one of the things I like about SH4 - after an ordered time you might be ordered somewhere else.

Crew manages itself.

That's something I can never quite bring myself to do. Yes, they should take care of themselves, but if they don't move I feel guilty, so I keep with '8-Hour Fatigue', and I keep moving them.

Up to 50% of officers, POs and crew dismissed at end of patrol in home base (determined by coin toss or rolling die, 25% chance of losing any given person). Only "0" renown new personnel recruited.

Even the US navy only rotated 30%, and I don't know what Kriegsmarine policy was, so I let SH3 Commander do what it wants in that respect.

But yes, I too never use renown for 'better' crew.

All POs have a qualification, and officers have at least one. No helmsman or medic qualifications issued & radio only to POs.

I don't hold with that one. Even if those don't do anything it was still a valid qualification. My planesmen are always low-grade enlisted, but the guy standing at the pumps is always a qualified Helmsman.

Officer support in target solutions (though I am slowly learning manual targeting.

I hate manual targetting, and always use WE Assistance. I still manage to miss plenty, so I don't let it bother me much. I also use h.sie's Colored Hull Integrity Indicator, which gives a general idea about the state of the boat without strict numbers.

No music or broadcasts after 1945, thought I am not time sensitive (i.e. I might listen to an FDR or Churchill speech before or after its original date, or a song in 1939 that was first released in 1942).

I don't get that one, but I've never played past 1940, so what would I know?

I also always have some throwaway careers -- training careers -- going on, in which I run the same scenario over and over. I treat these as "missions." At some point, of course, these start to CTD & are discarded.

I figure that's what Single Missions are for.