Crew Management tutorial---
You can wake up the crew without battle stations (which adds a cost making the crew more tired) by dragging the crew sideways in their compartment as long as it isn't the sleep shift. Dragging a crew within the sleep shift will put them to sleep if they are not and also IF THEY ARE TIRED ENOUGH. Dragging a crew sideways in the compartment in a non-sleep shift will wake up a sleep crew compartment ofr member. If the fatigue stat of the crew is too high, the puter will put the member back to sleep. Moving them out of active crew into the sleep crew or Damage Control will help rest the crew.
Active crew uses the most energy.
Maintenance crew use the next lower energy.
Damage Control uses the next lower.
Sleep shift uses the least energy
How CM works:
It's important to understand how the crew management system works (no matter how much you hate it or think it unrealistic, or you've decided the game isn't worth playing.) If you understand how it works and cooperate with it, you can get rid of the problem of the crew nodding off.
I cannot stress enough the weather factor. Bad weather will keep the crew unrested for days and even when the weather calms. Take note of the "fatigue" stat on the crew members. Depending on which of the three states a crew shift is in, the computer will automatically cycle crew to sleep if they reach over a threashold. Also not the game restore bug at the bottom of this discussion.
I.
The crew shifts cycle I, II, III and back to I in a continious circle every four hours regardless if the crew is tired or not and the time of the change varies less than 15 minutes. The computer will hold off a change for up to 15 minutes past the hour if the next crew in line is very tired.
II.
Unless the crew has an exceptional high fatigue rating, it's always the NEXT crew shift after the current one that is scheduled to sleep. High fatigue will cause ANY crew member of any shift to sleep. The HIGHEST threshold is for the current ACTIVE duty shift. Only the most tired members (depending on their rank/skill/stamina) will be forced to sleep. Because there are many factors I cannot give you hard numbers, but for an average, you can expect the puter to sleep active crew when fatigue is 90% or more. Sometimes less.
The next MEDIUM threshold is for the MAINTENANCE shift (the one just before the active crew in order.) The puter may force them to sleep on average 50-60% fatigue (again these are not hard numbers because each crew member has many factors affecting this.)
The next threshold is the sleep crew (the one next in rotation AFTER active.) The puter will wake them up sometime below 5% fatigue. The puter may not force a crew that is not very fatigued to sleep until the end of the shift period. This is the crew that needs to be watched most closely to make sure the puter puts them to sleep in time to recover. My rule of thumb is if a crew is not asleep in the sleep shift when fatigue is 30% or more by half way though the shift, I put them to sleep manually. Crew who go on duty with 30% or more will be over 60% tired at the end of ACTIVE duty and will lose an additional 5-10% in maintenance cycle which will finally put them to sleep in the sleep cycle with 70% fatigue or more. It takes several sleep cycles to recover this much sleep and never if you again cruise on the surface in high wind.
Notice also the GREY and COLOR portraits:
Grey portraits are crew who are not active and have fatigue 5% or more. Color is for crew who are active OR have fatigue less than 5%. This is a quick way for you to recognize the most rested crew in an emergency so you can put them in the most damaged compartment or on the the most important weapon or sensor when needed.
I make it a point to inspect my crew every shift change to watch for problems.
If I have crew who never makes it under 5% fatigue at the end of the sleep period, I "push" them forward one in the rotation cycle which puts them to sleep again for another 4 hours. This will more often than not recover a really weak member. NEVER move a crew BACKWARD in the rotation. They lose too much sleep.
You can also force an entire compartment or shift to sleep without moving them out of the shift or compartment by dragging them sideways in their compartment. I do this when I see the crew is not asleep when they SHOULD be (they have high fatigue) and they are in the sleep shift. This will make them more alert when they go active, will be less tired when they go into maintenance, and will get more rest on their next sleep shift.
When purchaing crew, take a careful note of their stamina stats and get the best crew you can afford. During the cruise, keep an eye on the experience (nnnn/nnnn) stat. The second number is the HIGHEST that crew member can achieve. It's a good idea to replace crew who have tapped out with those who have more potential.
LAST but not LEAST is a bug.
If you save after a storm and your ACTIVE crew is not rested with around 20% fatigue or less, upon restoring the game, the active crew will have their stamina cut in half. This could even cause a crew to restore with 99% fatigue. If not rested immediately, their health rating will start to go down. It takes a very long time to recover a crew this tired and can only be done submerged and many sleep cycles. One way to help lessen the effect of this is have the crew submerged for up to an hour before the save and place as many crew as possible to sleep. This will restore the crew while in a partial rest cycle and reduce (but not eliminate) the game restore hit.
The Crew Management system is designed to provide a MINIMUM crew support when left to itself. If the captain takes an active interest in the crew and performs the suggestions provided, you can enhance the system thereby obtaining a reserve stamina for those times you need to push the crew to the limit.
I didn't write the game, but I still enjoy it. Call it a personality fault.
-Pv-
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