NYGM Crew Management (Preview) - NOW released

[Der Teddy Bar]

Follow this link to the release info and link in the Mod forum - http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=47907


Crew Management

Purpose: Provide a challenging yet intuitive and stimulating method for crew and submarine management without the tedium associated with stock SH3 “fatigue� or the limitations of other SH3 “fatigue� modifications.

Discussion: Many elements of the stock SH3 “fatigue� system do not work well, or simply do not work at all. In the stock SH3 model fatigue is the dominant factor, yet there is no automatic system of rotating watch crews leading to a tedious process of switching crew members. Furthermore, contrary to WWII U-boat operations, adequate space is not provided for officer berthing leading to unrealistic officer behavior unless certain awards are given, then rendering the default SH3 fatigue system moot. Other elements such as crew promotions are broken. There is no reason to promote enlisted sailors because they provide no added benefit to the operation of the ship. This mod will attempt to address these deficiencies as well as others.

Definitions: This mod is based on three critical crew member statistics:

• Efficiency: A measure of how capable the crew member is of conducting certain tasks. Many factors have an impact on crew efficiency such as fatigue and proficiency.

In this model, awards and promotions will tend to improve crew member performance. This behavior can be correlated to the promotion and award systems in modern navies where those sailors better able to perform tasks in a given rating are given awards and/or promotions to higher ranks. While SH3 does not model individual crew members well, this system can be applied such that those crew members receiving awards or promotions are those deserving the recognition and as a consequence receive a “bonus� to performance. This performance bonus allows higher ranking crew members to recover efficiency 10% faster than the next lower rank.

The decay rate for crew efficiency has undergone many tweaks. The version of the “Not you grandmothers crew management mod� will cause all crew efficiencies to be at a minimum after about 18 hours, however many other factors will influence how well compartments function. The rate at which efficiency is lost varies based upon the location of the crew member. For example, crew members in the torpedo rooms, engine spaces, damage control and the bridge will reach minimum efficiency first. During harsh weather, crew members on the bridge will reach minimum efficiency even faster.

In order to offset the lack of additional crew berthing, “neutral� spaces have been established in the engine room not currently in use. Crew members will not regain efficiency, but they will not lose efficiency either.

Crew members at minimum efficiency will be denoted with an “E� next to the character portrait.

• Morale: This is a measure of the emotional condition, or confidence, of the crew. Morale has a dramatic impact of crew effectiveness. Crew member injury or death has a tremendous negative impact on crew morale, and can devastate crew morale in affected compartments. Sinking ships, on the other hand provides a boost to crew morale. In the “Not you grandmothers crew management mod� four to five crew deaths or eight to ten crew injuries will result in the crew reaching minimum morale. Like the efficiency statistic above, crew members at minimum morale will be denoted with an “E� next to their portrait. Due to the limitations in SH3 it is not possible to differentiate between minimum efficiency and minimum morale without looking at the individual crew members. The easiest way is to avoid situations resulting in crew injury or death.

The current system starts every crew member at maximum moral. This morale is slowing reduced during the course of the patrol. Morale has been timed to go down very slowly over about a six to seven week period. If you sink ships during this period of time, you will increase crew morale and improve overall crew efficiency.

• Health: As the name implies, this is the physical well being of an individual crew member. Rank no longer provides improvements in health with every crew member on an equal basis.

The goal of the “Not you grandmothers crew management mod� is to maximize the efficient operation of the uboat compartments, with many possible methods to accomplish optimal compartment operation. The crew’s ability to perform operations has been linked to compartment efficiency where possible (there may be issues with this as it does not always appear SH3 uses crew efficiency for spotting purposes). If the crew remains on watch too long, the engines will shut off.

One of the most difficult tasks was balancing efficiency and moral. The designers complicated this because of the way they chose to implement these two factors. This has been accomplished within the limitations of the SH3 model. The 18 hour rotation is designed to provide challenges during repeated convoy attacks, but not make crew switching a undo burden during long transits. Crew configurations have been reworked to provide port and starboard watch sections for rotation in order to help here as well. Crew management does become easier as the crew gains experience and qualifications, though even a veteran crew can suffer challenges if not thoughtfully managed.

Officers’ qualifications are now important, but they are not Uber as in the stock SH3 model. Officers will tire, as will other crew members, even if awarded the German Cross in Gold. The compartment impact of an officer can be important, but not as important as having qualified warrants and seamen in the compartment.

The helmsman qual is no longer required and has been eliminated.


Torpedo loading operations provides an example of the need for efficient crew management. Low efficiency crew may be able to load torpedoes, but probably not for long, and they will only load torpedoes at the slowest speed (~20 minutes per torpedo). A properly rested crew with some of the correct qualifications (provided in the default crew configurations) can load torpedoes twice as fast. A veteran crew can load torpedoes faster yet. This is just one example of how thoughtful planning and crew management will matter in efficient uboat operations.