Handling the Enlisted Men

[Reinhard Dietz]

Quick question: Is there any rhyme or reason as to why enlisted men would be transferred off of a U-boat? The reason I'm asking is that I don't want to use the 'realistic transfers' option in SH3C, since that would probably cost me my uber-LI, and that's not permissible.

Any input's appreciated.

[schlechter pfennig]

Not much help here, I'm afraid, but not only do I use the realistic transfers option, but I also use the crew list option of Commander, and when it indicates it might be time to release an officer so he can command his own U-boat, I throw a farewell, congratulatory party for him and send him on his way.

[Reinhard Dietz]

Yeah, I rotate officers out reasonably regularly; the last one of the commissioning crew that I had for U-48 will be sent on to command his own boat as soon as I return to Lorient.

While I enjoy the benefits of an elite uber-crew, I can imagine that BdU would prefer to spread those personnel, both officers and men, throughout the fleet.

[krashkart]

It's a toss-up for me at times. I've asked the same question before and decided that I would like to keep my crew for as long as possible, and I don't use the Realistic Crew Transfers option either. To quote a senior forum member: "I trains em, I keeps em". OTOH my style of play allows for a lot of crew promotion and there will come a time when I begin to flip the lower ranks and release my long-standing officers back to BdU. But there may come a point when I switch it up a little and turn the transfer option back on.

It's really a matter of personal taste. Some like the transfer option turned on, others prefer to leave it off and fine-tune their crew.

[frau kaleun]

I think in RL it was unusual to transfer an LI off a boat, since his intimate knowledge of a particular boat was so integral to its performance and survival. Later in the war when production increased and there were more and more boats to be crewed with ever more inexperienced men this may have changed but I don't know if that's the case or not.

And I don't know if Commander's crew transfer option mirrors this in any way. I will say, though, that up until this last career I've used it and never lost an LI to a transfer... but I did have one who went AWOL and had to be replaced. So it's not only transfers that can take away your experienced crew members.

Right now since I've started a new career in Aug 1939 I've got the crew transfer option turned off, since I think it's justified to believe that BdU would not be transferring people willy nilly after only a couple patrols when there aren't that many boats in service to begin with and not that many new ones being commissioned. At some point I'll probably turn it back on so I'm kind of with Krashkart on the issue at the moment.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I leave it on, just to shake things up. It also covers other incidents, such as bar fights, car accidents, etc., and you may or may not get assigned a replacement before you leave port.

[Immelman]

Starting at '42 in addition to the 1 crewman lost from SH Commander I "rotate" my crew at every patrol. I dismiss 3 or 4 sailors and replace them with wet behind the ears noobs, errr I mean raw cadets. Just like in real life with all the new boats being produced they were running short on experienced crewmen so they shuffled men around. Last patrol I lost my Engineering Officer to a bar fight. No replacement was forthcoming so I had to break in a newbie.

[JScones]

Originally Posted by Reinhard Dietz

Quick question: Is there any rhyme or reason as to why enlisted men would be transferred off of a U-boat? The reason I'm asking is that I don't want to use the 'realistic transfers' option in SH3C, since that would probably cost me my uber-LI, and that's not permissible.

Any input's appreciated.

1. Promotion. That Matrosen may well be ready for the next step, but do you have a vacancy at the Gefreiter level in your boat? While you can do it in SH3, in RL you wouldn't have a torpedoroom full of SNCOs. You had your one SNCO, a few JNCOs, and the balance ORs.

Further, that sailor who you recommend for JNCO, the JNCO who you recommend for SNCO, the SNCO who you recommend for officer school, all need to go to formal training...off your boat....and they won't come back.

2. Training. Qualifications shouldn't just magically appear on a sailor's sleeve. Training takes men off your boat, and once they are gone, they rarely come back to the same boat.

3. Infractions. Fights, insubordination, poor discipline and general anti-social behaviour will see a crewman, if not arrested, then certainly kicked off a boat.

4. AWOL. Failing to return from leave.

5. Crewman initiated transfer requests. For various reasons.

6. Command initiated transfers. For various reasons, such as moving crew to fill other depleted crews.

I let SH3Cmdr do its thing. Surprisingly, the dev said that crew transfers, like practically all of SH3Cmdr's features, is based on what occurred in RL (at least insofar as documentation/records exist) and thus takes all of the above into consideration. And who am I to argue with him, great guy that he is?

[Weiss Pinguin]

Originally Posted by JScones

I let SH3Cmdr do its thing. Surprisingly, the dev said that crew transfers, like practically all of SH3Cmdr's features, is based on what occurred in RL (at least insofar as documentation/records exist) and thus takes all of the above into consideration. And who am I to argue with him, great guy that he is?

Exactly

[Reinhard Dietz]

Ah, splendid. Those details are something I can work with. After 11 war patrols, I've got a boat full of promoted NCOs and EMs swimming in Iron Crosses who've been with me from the beginning and I'm sure that's not accurate, although it's great for efficiency. Any idea of how long the average tenure aboard a boat was?

Do you know of a way I could switch over to using the German-language ranks? As I understand it, SH3C reads what's in the game, and I could use a little conversion assistance. Meanwhile, who am I to argue with the developer of that marvelous utility? I just wish a version of it existed for SHIV.

(I remain hesitant to sacrifice my uber-LI to the whims of the Kriegsmarine personnel office, though. I've already sent four of my officers off to command school and will send my IWO as soon as we return from the next patrol. Needless to say, a boat full of sublieutenants doesn't do much for efficiency.)

[Jimbuna]

Must agree with Jaesen but on a personal gameing note....I trained em I keep em

[Weiss Pinguin]

I use SH3 Commander's crew management to qualify everyone after the first patrol, then qualify any newcomers in SH3.