U-Bones, I accept and understand that damage control is an essential part of the game that needs to be paid attention. My whole grief is that, in it's current form, the damage control team does nothing else on the boat. I can accept that positions like the radio operator, cooks, medical, etc., are abstracted in the background. That's fine. What I want is a simple system back like we had in SH3: when you have damage, your best men from among the crew (selected by the player before the patrol) are sent to repair damage when the damage control team is activated. Shoot, I think it'd be even better if, for instance, off-duty crew would fill in slots on the DC team, providing a quick-reaction force, if you will. When battlestations is called, they go back to their regularly assigned station. Activate the damage control team, and your pre-selected men for DC go to this station.
I just think there would be so much more flexibility with this game if crew management was implemented in a more realistic manner, instead of putting forth the image that there were dedicated damage control parties aboard every ship. Damage control is one of the key elements all new recruits learn in basic training, and SH4 should reflect that.
Actually, I do like your idea of pulling guys off the torpedo stations and putting them into the damage control slots. It's a realistic way of dealing with realistic problems. Unfortunately it's just not automated at this time.
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