[Hinrich Schwab]

Here are my suggestions for new and modified skills. I am aware that some of these suggestions, while more realistic, would be challenging to mod in the game. I do not have the coding skill to try this myself, so I leave my suggestions to the mod community to do with as necessary.

Skill Modification Suggestion List

XO Skills
Battle Stations: Increase active skill time by 15% and boost general crew efficiency by same
CHANGE: This should give the crew efficiency boost that is missing in the current model.

Silent Running: (No Changes)


LI Skills
[Active] Increase Repair: Morale decay doubles while skill is active.
[Active]Reduce Flooding: Morale decay triples while active.
[Active]Repair Items: Only available if an item is below 25% or destroyed. If destroyed, can only repair up to 50%
[Passive] Increase Crush Depth (moved from Navigator)
[Passive] Diving Drills (moved from Navigator)
[Passive] Increase Turning Speed: (moved from Navigator) adds 1 degree of rudder per level. Base Rudder +-35 degrees. Max Skill +-40 degrees rudder.



2WO Skills
The current "skills" are actually commands that are also bound to the F-keys. This is a waste of space.
*New Skill* [Active] Scan Sectors: 2WO ensures efficient scanning while watch is on bridge. Increases visual range by 1.25x Duration: 2 hours
*New Skill* [Active] Red Lights: Reduces Darkness penalty from crew for duration. Duration 4 hours.


Dieselman Skills
*New Skill* [Passive] Adjust Fuel Ratio: Provides minor boost in range by altering fuel-air mix. Current equivalent skill gives a Type VII the range of a Type IXB at max level. Extended range should not exceed ~9500 NM (17,575km) at 12kts surfaced.
[Passive] Fine Tuning (formerly Sound Coating) Reduces engine noise through meticulous maintenance. This skill should be half as effective as it is currently modeled.
(Faster Battery Charge Skill removed. Set Battery Charge rate based on speed. 80% at Ahead Standard in 10 Hours)
[Active] Wahnsinnige Geschwindigkeit-Diesel. Same as Overcharge Diesels except damages Engine by 20% at Level 1, 10% at Level 2 and no damage at Level 3
[Active] Wahnsinnige Geschwindigkeit-Electric. Same as Overcharge Electrics except damages Engine by 20% at Level 1, 10% at Level 2 and no damage at Level 3

Navigator Skills
[Command] Plot Intercept Course. Select an update mark on map and plot an intercept course at Ahead Standard.
[Passive] Accurate Plotting: Increases accuracy of Plot Intercept Skill by taking into account various factors. Level 1-Compensate for speed. Level 2-Rounds range to nearest 5 kilometers. Level 3-Rounds Range to nearest kilometer. Level 4-accounts for age of contact. Level 5-calculates based off true range;no rounding.


All other skills removed.


Torpedoman Skills
[Passive] Torpedo Loading Drills (No Change)
[Passive] Torpedo Maintenance (I have no problems with a skill reducing the chance of a dud. However, the game models dud percentages so low that duds are extremely rare, by default. The game needs dud percentages raised to historical levels to make this skill useful. It is probably modeled just fine.)
[Passive] Warhead Specialist (removed. Torpedoes have a fixed amount of fuel and explosive. There is little that can be done to boost range or damage without more fuel or explosives)
[Active] Overcharge Torpedo (removed)
[Active] Pre-heat Torpedo- The effect is modeled fine, but there should be a new mechanic to more accurately emulate historical activity. When activated, ALL torpedo tubes have load percentages reset to 0 as if the tubes were just fired. Tubes "reload" normally. Upon the first successfully loaded tube, skill activates and remains active until all loading tubes are fired or after 3 hours. This emulates the historical procedure of actual crews unloading the torpedos from the tubes to provide necessary maintenance of the ordinance and, in the case of electric torpedoes, prepare the propulsion batteries to avoid failures common to early electric torpedoes from inert power cells. This will be a challenge to script, but has never been modeled in a Silent Hunter game and adds a new level of realism. Also, there is no "magic" torpedo double damage skill as the tubes must still be reloaded.


Boatswain Skills
No Changes except as follows

Rename Propaganda to Rally Crew. Reflects the historical state of affairs and Politics in the Kriegsmarie as "political" reinforcement did not occur until later in the war.
[Active] Distribute Rebreather Cartridges: Halts CO2 build up for 2 hours. CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE PER LEVEL PER PATROL. As with all active skills, there are three levels.



Cook Skills
No Changes


Gunner Skills
No Changes to Passive Skills
[Active] Secure Lifelines-Orders Deck Gun Crew to secure lifelines to prevent washing overboard to allow deck gun usage in seas rougher than advisable for deck gun usage. Current default max is 11 m? Each level of 3 levels would increase this by 1. 15m or greater prevents activating this skill and if active, deck gun will not fire. Lasts for 1, 1.5 and 2 hours respective of level. Morale decay for gunner triples while skill is active. Random chance for Gunner injury. If Gunner is injured, skill cancels and reverts to default state.



Sonarman Skills
[Passive] Reduce Darkness Penalty (removed. Moved to 2WO. Sonarman is not on bridge)
[Passive] Direction Finder-Hydrophone: No changes
[Active] Locate Hidden Enemies (removed. Move to Radioman. Enemies are susceptible to DF just as much as a sub is)
[Active] Total Revealing (Removed. Magic Skill. Realistic alternative given to 2WO)

[Active] Identify Machinery Signature. Identifies all ships in hydrophone range and classifies both type and speed. Duration set by skill level. One hour per skill level. Reflects expert sonarman's ability to classify type of ship by machinery signature and speed by counting propeller revolutions. Cooldown starts at 6 hours and reduced by 2 hours per level.



Radioman Skills
[Passive] Direction Finder-Radar-No proposed changes
[Passive] Direction Finder-Radio (removed-useless skill)
[Passive] Reduce Radar Emissions-Reduces chance of radar counterdectection by a specific percentage. Skill should not compromise the historical fact that METOX was a giant "Kick Me" sign on a sub. However, it can be reduced for the sake of playability.
[Active] Safe Communications-No change
[Active] Locate Hidden Enemies- same as former Sonarman skill. It makes more sense for this to be on the Funker (radioman) as direction finding radio signals and radar transmissions was this position's job. The Hydrophone operator could only do so much. The skill makes more sense, here. Duration and cooldown same as Sonarman's Identify Machinery Signature skill


EDIT: I had another idea that can be considered, but I would not sweat it if this was ignored as it stretches realism to some degree.

LI Skill-One Time Use (per patrol)
[Active-One Time Use] Patch Pressure Hull-in Extreme emergencies, perform desperation repairs to hull to ensure it is possible to survive trip back to port. Game Mechanic. Assuming a Crush Depth of 240, 70 meters (Crash Dive Depth) is 29% of that figure, meaning that at 29% Hull Integrity, Crash Dive Depth is Crush Depth. This skill would allow a one-time repair to the hull integrity to boost it to 29 or 30% if it is below that figure. The penalty would be reducing the crew's morale by half and sending ALL active skills into cooldown to represent the magnitude of work and scrounging needed to even try a stunt like this. Again, this skill is more afterthought than anything.