Concept: Fatigue As Provisions

[Fluffysheap]

Of course, fatigue just doesn't work usefully in SH3 and I don't think any fatigue model really works from the standpoint of adding fun or realism to the game. Dealing with crew is basically just a nuisance. Meanwhile, the game doesn't have any notion of provisioning which allows you to have unrealistically long patrols. You can sail all the way to the US coast in your type-II if you really want, you just have to go really slow.

So why not repurpose fatigue to reflect provisioning? To do this:
1) Instead of representing fatigue, the endurance meter represents stores of food and other consumables remaining on the boat.
2) All compartments, even quarters, would have the same (slow) fatigue rate at all times. The only real use of quarters then would be to allow wounded crew to recover and/or to store excess crew (like watch crew while submerged).
3) All crewmen would have the same fatigue rate, regardless of rank, experience, morale, ... as officers eat just as much as enlisted men. All crew should have the same endurance.
4) No impact on crew performance from "fatigue" (crew is always well fed even if the stores are running low). Possible exception as endurance approaches 0 to reflect low morale as a result of imminent starvation and/or impaired performance due to reduced rations.
5) There would need to be versions of this mod for each type of submarine, you would then select the appropriate provision model for the amount of stores your sub carries while in port.
6) Set the "max 3d" compression to max available compression so fatigue counter is always running.

Anyone see any problems with it? Anyone already do something like this? I could take a shot at it, but the extent of my modding experience is inverting the mouse and increasing my max time compression.

[Damo]

Originally Posted by Fluffysheap

You can sail all the way to the US coast in your type-II if you really want, you just have to go really slow.

You'd never get back though, so are you planning to desert??

As far as your suggestions go though, it's a great system and one I'd love to see but sadly it's all tied up in the .exe as hardcode and not possible unless UBI release an SDK, which isn't going to happen. H.Sie has made progress with repair times using edits to the code but it remains to be seen whether this will be extended to fix the other bugs of SH3, fatigue being one.

[Fader_Berg]

I agree and know the feeling. This is something I've been thinking about since the first time I played this game. I really miss this dimension of the game.

The model I'm planning to incorporate into patSH3r is not focused on proviant in that specific sense, but more in a abstract one. The crew gets affected by war discontent and exhaustion the more time they spend at sea. This will lower their morale and ability to recover. By a month in a Type II the crew will be pretty exhausted.
I'm not not completly certain how the model should look like, so I'm open for suggestions.

I've got to solve the crew rotation first. I don't want to be left at sea with a fatigue model that requires me to throw the crew around every minute.

[Hitman]

The model I'm planning to incorporate into patSH3r is not focused on proviant in that specific sense, but more in a abstract one. The crew gets affected by war discontent and exhaustion the more time they spend at sea. This will lower their morale and ability to recover. By a month in a Type II the crew will be pretty exhausted.
I'm not not completly certain how the model should look like, so I'm open for suggestions.

Basically this has been done before, though strangely it was never adopted in any supermod. Kaa developed long ago a fatige model that sunk slowly and steadily -a bit quicker in storm conditions IIRC- no matter what, representing the increasing physical strain in the crew over a patrol. While the crew never stopped performing their duties, they came to a point where they performed real slow, after two months or so (This can be adjusted). The only drawback is that you have either to find an average for all UBoat Types, or use different fatige models for each UBoat, because a Type IXD2 will be out at sea much longer.

IIRC Kaas model is still an option in SH3 Commander

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Hitman

Basically this has been done before, though strangely it was never adopted in any supermod.

Wasn't that model used in NYGM? I seem to recall a lot of arguments over it.

[Arnold]

As far as crew management, since my bosun seems to be neglecting his duties to set the watch schedules, I've taken over that task as Commander. I've eliminated the fatigue, using the Commander mod. I change watches using historical values. In other words, I don't let a crewman stand a control room watch for the entire patrol. They get rest, subject to the needs of the service.

[Sailor Steve]

And once again I find myself reading something and wondering "haven't we had this discussion before?", only to find that not only did we, but I responded to it...two years ago.

[GoldenRivet]

Is it possible to add a new gauge to the GUI?

a provisions meter?

perhaps it could be a slide out hand written on a piece of paper... so many lbs of meat, so many cans of vegetables, so many gallons of fresh drinking water, so many dozen fresh eggs, such and such loafs of bread etc etc and at the end "Estimate 40 days worth of provisions remaining"

every 24 hours the numbers on the slide out would decrease at a fixed rate providing a boat with 60 days of provisions - therby requiring a refit or an end patrol at 60 days for example.

when the slide out reaches to 10 days of provisions the text turns red or goes to All caps underlined and says

" ESTIMATE APPROXIMATELY ONE WEEK PROVISIONS REMAINING"

somehow tie it to oxygen level? running out of provisions is the same as running out of oxygen?

end mission screen with "your crew has starved to death"

[Hitman]

Necrowhat?

Is it possible to add a new gauge to the GUI?

If you apply Kaa's mod, you already have a visible sliding bar that tells you how much endurance your crew has. It is the usual fatigue bar, as it will sink slowly till they perform slowly.