Bridge and watch crew

[Yoriyn]

Hi
I back to SH3 after almost year. After few single mission, can enybody explain me how in the game a watch crew system is working?

In Bridge section of the u-boat screen we have got 5 spaces for crew:
one for officer and four for sailors.

1. If I just left a port in sep '39 and I don't need full bridge in Ost-West Canal, and I left only one. Is this one is able to look around the boat or each place is connected to specific area around uboat (ex: man on first place searching horizont only on front of the boat, second - left, third ...).

2. If There is no WO on the bridge, do I still recieve message "ship spotted" or not.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Yoriyn

Hi
I back to SH3 after almost year. After few single mission, can enybody explain me how in the game a watch crew system is working?

In Bridge section of the u-boat screen we have got 5 spaces for crew:
one for officer and four for sailors.

1. If I just left a port in sep '39 and I don't need full bridge in Ost-West Canal, and I left only one. Is this one is able to look around the boat or each place is connected to specific area around uboat (ex: man on first place searching horizont only on front of the boat, second - left, third ...).

2. If There is no WO on the bridge, do I still recieve message "ship spotted" or not.

I'm pretty sure you must have a WO on the bridge in order to get voice alerts of visual contacts. If not someone will correct me before too long, lol.

I'm not sure about whether or not having less than four enlisted men will affect the ability to make contacts in the particular areas around the boat corresponding to the 'missing' members of the watch... but I can tell you that, in theory at least, not having the green "efficiency" bar above the bridge maxed out or at least as close to it as possible should affect the performance of the watch as a whole. How this plays out in the game I'm not sure... they don't spot contacts or potential problems as quickly once they've come into range, I guess, or maybe miss them entirely.

Anyway, I've always kept a full complement of men up there, except sometimes going in and out of home base I send the WO to his quarters so he'll shut up for a while.

[Gerald]

Frau you bet me...Welcome back! On the bridge, you have the normal one officer and some seamen to watch, even if you do not have an officer with the watch qualification, he will keep an eye on the situation in all cases.....it is my experience

[flag4]

i have the feeling if there is no WO you will not get 'ship spotted' or other notification. same as if there is no one in 'sonar' room you will not get reports from there. i think the crew on deck without WO are mute.

its an interesting question because i have never NOT had a WO on deck...i will have to try!

[desirableroasted]

If you don't have a WO on deck, you won't hear the announcements. However, if you are using automatic map updates, the contacts will be plotted to the map and your TC will drop.

To test this, try taking your WO off the conning tower the next time you leave harbor.

As for watch crew efficiency, it does not matter how many people you have up there as long as the efficiency bar is maxed out.

[SilentSnake]

When I leave kiel I only have a seaman on watch and my other guys can just rest especially in the type II because it saves endurance. When I get near enemy territory I put my WO on the bridge and fill it with crew. I have found the WO gives u the bearing and ship spotted and if he is not on the deck you will get the shiskavesha sound ( cannot pronounce the german ) but if your in time compression I believe you will not get any notification.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by SilentSnake

the shiskavesha sound ( cannot pronounce the german )

Actually you did pretty well in conveying the sound. The actual German is:

"Schiff gesichtet."

Which means, oddly enough, "ship sighted."

So you also hear that from someone on the bridge other than the WO? Because there was a thread recently where someone said they missed hearing different watchmen say it since it had been "taken out" of the game or something. But I also hear it, I'm sure it's another crewman saying it, because I'll hear it and then the WO will repeat it and add the bearing and range.

[raymond6751]

I believe the efficiency bar has also to do with the range at which sightings will take place. With one watcher, I'm sure there will be a gap in the lookout work.

This type of thing you can test in the single missions.

[SilentSnake]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

Actually you did pretty well in conveying the sound. The actual German is:

"Schiff gesichtet."

Which means, oddly enough, "ship sighted."

So you also hear that from someone on the bridge other than the WO? Because there was a thread recently where someone said they missed hearing different watchmen say it since it had been "taken out" of the game or something. But I also hear it, I'm sure it's another crewman saying it, because I'll hear it and then the WO will repeat it and add the bearing and range.

Exactly. I believe i can confirm this because upon stalking a convoy i had my WO in the torpedo room as i did not need him looking out as i was doing the lookout and he was also trained as a torpedoman. My extra crewman on the bridge were shouting shiff gesichtet in different voices and at inconsistant intervals hence a different crewman. As desirableroasted said if you are close to a ship it seems the tc drops but the contact will probably have seen you by then depending on the weather. So im geussing the efficiency of range is based on the how much the bridge bar is filled up.

By the way this is with GWX 3

[frau kaleun]

Well it's good to know it's not my imagination... I was sure I could hear more than one crewman saying it, sometimes one right over top of the other.

[Yoriyn]

I can confirn that too. Today on my training mission to WaW i heard 3 different voices to only one spoted ship. One of them was voice of my WO so i can't confirm they can spot the ship without WO on the bridge.