By what criteria do you award medals?

[Annatar]

The title's pretty self explanatory I guess. When you give out medals to the crew, how do you decide who gets them?
They gave me an Iron Cross to award to a crew member after my last patrol and, frankly, I don't think anybody deserved it. I mean, life on board a uboot is no picnic, but still; they're not exactly hotbeds of conspicuous heroism.
In the end I found myself awarding the Cross to my Watch officer because he got a bit wet while standing on watch. :p
Perhaps I should have saved the medal for a more memorable patrol in which half the crew ended up dead or something. :hmm:

[KeptinCranky]

Good point, awarding iron crosses for getting wet seems a bit ecessive

I generally award medals to the crewmen I feel contributed most to this patrol's score, if I found all the ships I sunk by hydrophone, the sonar dude gets them, if I did a night-time surface attack it goes to the deckwatch and weapons officer
If I used the deck or flak guns those crewmen get the medals, especially if I took some incoming fire.
If the boat was damaged the repair crew is eligible too

I also award the uboat badges to crewmen with at least 2 patrols completed

[iambecomelife]

Back when I played actual patrols I would usually give medals to the crewmen on duty in the torpedo room during a successful attack. Ditto the deck gunners. I also was generous to the sonar operators, whom I looked at as unsung heroes. They might not fire a shell for the entire war, but they're just as important as anyone else.

[Puster Bill]

Originally Posted by Mikhayl

Same as Keptin', also IIRC the medals give a "bonus" to the crewman so it's a good move to give them to the important guys, sonarman, watch officer, torpedo & repair guys, etc, depending on what you feel is the most important for your boat.

This is what I do.

In regards to promotions and awards, I give them in this order:

Officers
Qualified petty officers
Unqualified PO's
Seamen

I don't think it necessarily makes much difference, though. I used to award them haphazardly, and it didn't seem to make the crew less efficient.

[predavolk]

I give them awards based on how it will improve their performance, and how important that performance is for the ship. For example, the highest medal should go to officers, as it improves the performance of everyone else working in that compartment. Not very helpful for say, the bridge crew. Fatigue-resistant medals should go to those who get fatigued most often.

The Silent Hunter 3 Community Manual outlines the benefit of all the medals. So they go where they are needed, generally going to higher ranked individuals before lower. When all else is equal, I give it out to those individuals with the most experience.

[mcf1]

I personally reward with medals the officers first especially the WO, then the petty officers with a qualification and at the end the sailors because, I don't put all of them to work at the same time (I don't think it's possible) and so I find them "expandable"

[UnderseaLcpl]

My goal is just to get everyone on board enough medals that they can get laid by flashing them. Its the least a Kaleun can do.

[von hally]

i think medals and qualifications are quite important.

give torpedoman qualifications for a few guys in the torpedo rooms and the green bar at the top of the section will improve.
im sure this gives faster loading times etc.
ive a couple of watchman qualifications for my guys on the bridge...my green bar is at full now.

obviously a radio qualification to your sonar and radio guy greatly increases thier abilities.

machinist quals for some in the engine room...same as above.

as for medals...this gives the experience a boost i think.....as said above ...the better more qualified your officers.....then the better performance in that compartment.


but for any bilge rat....give your sonarman the first qualification after yourt first patrol....he'l greatly improve on the hydrophones

[Murr44]

Like other people who have posted I give medals to officers first. I give out whatever medals are available in game at the end of each patrol then exit the game. Using the crew management screen of SH3 Cmdr I can usually award at least one more U-Boat War badge to crewmen who qualify for the award.

[Murr44]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

My goal is just to get everyone on board enough medals that they can get laid by flashing them. Its the least a Kaleun can do.

I hope that you give them the VD lecture too. Nothing worse than a drippy spout!

[Brag]

I give out medals and promotions depending on where they will do the most good and improve fficiency.

Officers first, the POs. Eventually the swabs. That's where good tonnages pay off--more medals, more promotions.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Murr44

I hope that you give them the VD lecture too. Nothing worse than a drippy spout!

Damn! Too late.

[Uncle Goose]

In real life some medals were rarely given to ordinary crew. For instance, the Knights Cross was only awarded a few times to petty officers and for incredible bravery. To receive the Knights Cross you already had to be given the Iron Cross 1ste and 2de class and the German Cross in Gold (after 1941 of course). Even the German Cross in Gold was rare to see on anything below the rank of officer. Iron Crosses 2de class were more common as they could be awarded to an entire crew at once after a particularly successful patrol.

in many cases the captain had to write a letter of recommendation to the office of the BDU in order to get the medal. Sometimes the BDU told the captain that he may hand out a certain number of medals and that he had to decide who got them depending on his own judgment. I can imagine that this might have lead to asslicking and favoritism.

Believe it or not but I had a happening when I gave a medal to my petty officer - watchman, he disapeared from my crew, vanished, gone, DESERTED

[BasilY]

I award GCs in this order:

Sonar (1 then 1 much later when I can affort it)
Engine (1 officer early, then 2 WOs)
Torpedo (1 officer with torp/helm, 1/2 WOs later)
Helm (1 officer, 1 later)
Watch (1 WO)

Repair crew, deck and flak gunners, watch office with Gun/flak qualification has low GC priority because they are
1. Only needed for short burst of duty time &
2. Mostly likely to become casualty on patrol