The crew management system works quite well but you need to understand a few simple concepts to keep from messing up the rest cycle:
1) The watch cycles progress through I,II,III,I, etc. in 4 hour shifts 0:00, 4:00, 8:00, etc. and change within the 1st 11 minutes of each watch cycle (random timing.)
2) If you save and restore within 10 minutes BEFORE a watch change, your crew fatigue gets subtracted. Make sure you always save AFTER a crew change if you are near one.
3) Never drag a crew BACKWARD in the cycle if you can help it. It causes them to miss a sleep cycle (II to I for instance.)
4) There are several ways to get your tired crew to sleep more.
a) Drag an ACTIVE crew foward ONE in the cycle. The next crew awating turn gets to sleep four hours prior to their next watch. Best to do this right after a crew change so they get the full four hours.
b) If the tired crew in the next cycle aren't quite charged up enough when their turn gets activated, drag them foward AGAIN as many times in the next cycles as necessary (AFTER the crew change, or you will force them to miss sleep cycles.)
c) Drag a crew that is awaiting their next turn to activate (but the computer has caused them to wake up) SIDEWAYS from one position in a compartment to another position in the same compartment. Unless the fatigue is zero, this will force both exchanged crew members to sleep.
d) The repair crew station uses less energy than most of the other stations. Placing crew there without activating them will give them more rest than normal.
e) When submerged, the WATCH station crew ACTIVATED or NOT will mostly rest as there is little for them to do. So you can give the watch crew extra rest by submerging.
5) Keep the crew members in a compartment with the best leadership in the 1st slot. The whole compartment will be more efficient and not tire the crew as much.
6) Try to keep members with training and affinity for a position in the compartment where their skills will be used best (crews with highest watch score in the watch compartment for instance.) Again, this will make that crew more efficient and they will use less energy while on watch.
Note: When the computer sets up your crew for you on the 1st mission, it does a pretty good job, but maybe 85% right. A watchful and alert commander will be able to make small, carefull tweaks to make your crew improve and work better during your 1st patrol.
7) If you have the renoun for it, hire a few extra crew while at port and put them in the repair list. They make great replacements for tired, injured, or dead crew.
After you get everybody rested up, you will no longer have to manage the sleep cycles. The computer will do fine for many days if left to itself, even at fast compression. It's usually when a player manages the positions badly while experimenting that things get out of cycle for a while. It may take a couple days to sort out a badly mangled crew.
-Pv-
|