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Originally Posted by amurph182
If you want to create a feeling of actually having and caring about a crew, then the crew needs to have a greater impact on the operation of the boat. Crew skill levels need to be more important, such as having experienced men on the helm able to maintain periscope depth in rough water while a relatively green crew has you broaching from time to time in relatively calm weather. A good crew member should be able to give you pinpoint accuracy on sonar, while a greenhorn should miss the mark by several degrees. Needless to say that there should be very few top skilled men per boat, and most of them should be just above minimum during the early war period, with general crew skill growing over time. And it should take a long time for skills to increase.
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Plus, crew skills should affect how reliable a piece of equipment operates. Anyone who's served in the military knows things break down at all times, good and bad. WWII submarines were no different. Engines and motors break down, they catch fire and they run louder than they should. Radar? An infant technology with bugs still being worked out. Bulbs burnt out, vacuum tubes broke, circuits shorted, etc. AA guns jam, barrels overheat, periscopes leak, buoyancy vents jam, etc. etc. As it is now, we have perfectly functioning boats that only break down upon suffering enemy fire or grounding. A realisticly-portrayed crew SHOULD affect the rate of these types of breakdowns and how quickly they can be repaired, if at all.