adressing crew management

[Phylacista]

Ubi - give us a shift based system! No Babysitting.

What I have in my mind:

You can select one or MORE Crewman (like in windows explorer by dragging this rectangle or clicking with STRG or SHIFT).

then from a pulldown menu you can assign them to a duty (i.e. watch crew, engine room, control room etc)

again from a pulldown menu you can select shift 1 or 2 or 3.

24 hours are divided by amount of selected shifts.

easy.

You have to check regular if this is working fine (e.g. watch tires quicker in bad weather so you have to work 3 shift instead of 2), but if its working: no more babysitting.

This is a great idea. I like crew management, but having to tend to each individual is just too straining. I have turned fatigue off entirely and find I enjoy the game much more. I would love a shift-based system.

[Trout]

Yup, pretty much everyone here wants a shift based system.

Crew management should be more about WHO you put on each shift and division in the boat and have little to do with fatigue.

When it comes to crew managment I would like instead to monitor crew performance during a patrol and tweak the teams (moving people around) to get maximum performance. You should be able to tell which crewmen you want re-assigned within the boat, which ones to promote, and which ones to dismiss when you return to port.

Trout

[JU_88]

Agreed, crew management was badly done in sh3
I would also like watch crew to automatically report poor weather/ visibility! I shouldnt have to ask.
Heavy fog seriously compromises the sub, radar or no radar. they should report it and high time compression should slow down .....e.g "visibility nil sir"

It would also be nice if crew qualified for certain positions were given priority to man those positions, for instance, if i have two watch officers and one comes off duty for a rest, he should be replaced by the other, automatically.

I would also like it if the watch crews feet werent welded to the deck, this looks quite silly in rough seas.

[Threadfin]

Lots of potential here. Aside from 4 hour watch rotation we should be able to set battlestations.

On US boats there was a high turnover in crew from patrol to patrol, often up to 50%, mostly going to new construction, so that the new boats had some experienced crew. I'm hoping the skill system reflects the time the crewmen are on duty, so there's some strategy to who you put on duty -- do you put your top man on duty, or a less experienced crewman, knowing that you will likely lose the senior man, and the other guy will still be on the boat for next patrol so it's important to get him some experience in case he's in charge next patrol.

If experience is simply gained 'per patrol', whether the crewman actually does something or not, means there's no incentive for using anyone but your best guys in their correct spots.
.

[DeepSix]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

...
On US boats there was a high turnover in crew from patrol to patrol, often up to 50%, mostly going to new construction, so that the new boats had some experienced crew. I'm hoping the skill system reflects the time the crewmen are on duty, so there's some strategy to who you put on duty -- do you put your top man on duty, or a less experienced crewman, knowing that you will likely lose the senior man, and the other guy will still be on the boat for next patrol so it's important to get him some experience in case he's in charge next patrol.
...

That's an interesting idea; besides that it'd be nice to start with different crew names for each new career. Maybe have more variety in their skill levels, too.

Was the turnover so high among the enlisted men as well? I know officers (and petty officers) and skippers were shunted around a good bit, but thought the enlisted men more or less stayed with the boat.

I'd like a battlestations command, too.

[Threadfin]

There was a big turnover in enlisted as well, because they needed experience all through the boat on new construction. What the percentage was I don't know, but I know in some cases it was 50% or higher.

[Joe S]

I would prefer to forget crew management. Concentrate on gameplay, graphics and sound effects. Crew management requires the Dev team to expend resources that could be better spent somewhere else. Joe S

[Abraham]

Crew mamagement was introduced as a new feature. That will not go away, despite it's teething troubles.
A shift based crew management system as suggested by Phylacista seems to be a good evolution of the original management system, which was indeed sometimes like babysitting.
Anyway, submarines will never be empty again...

[Drebbel]

Maybe crew management should be included in the options menu so one can set it to automatic. Of course that would mean a penalty so one get less points for ones achievements.

[DeepSix]

Yes, but why go to the trouble of creating an artificial penalty for an artificial solution? When it would be at least as easy to just fix the real problem? I don't think it's having to manage crew that most people are dissatisfied with, but the way they have to manage crew. Maybe there are some who don't want crew management at all, but as Abraham said, I think we've got it now whether we like it or not. I happen to like it, but it would be much improved if it didn't require quite as much micromanaging.

No need to turn it off completely when having assignable watches and battle stations would be more historically accurate and realistic. To me, that seems like the easiest and most appealing solution.

My two cents.

[Donner]

Originally Posted by DeepSix

but it would be much improved if it didn't require quite as much micromanaging.

No need to turn it off completely when having assignable watches and battle stations would be more historically accurate and realistic. To me, that seems like the easiest and most appealing solution.

I agree with DeepSix. This simulation is supposed to represent the commanding officer of a US Navy submarine...not being the executive officer of same.

As captain, I would like to be able to set the watches however I choose and then let those watches rotate as they normally would. I always felt that I was babysitting the crew in SH3. "Heinz, you know it's your bedtime now. Go turn in!"

It would be super if "dog watches" are employed to allow possibly greater recovery for each watch as they are not stuck with the same daily routine.

Setting of watch lists by traditional navy way [Midnight (0000-0400); mid watch (0400-0800); Morning (0800-1200); forenoon (1200-1600); afternoon (1600-1800); dog watch (1800-2000); evening (2000-0000)], would be ideal.

For a *small* amount of micromanagement, the captain could deal with the occasional illness of crewmembers that cause "lost days." I have several hundred copies of US Submarine war patrol reports that outline lost days due to illness such as Measles, Gastro-Enteritis, cellulitis of the foot and wrist, severe sore throat, appendicitis, etc. Perhaps a slight juggling of crew at these moments would add to the flavor of the game. But these instances would have to be rare.

My two cents...

[The Noob]

Originally Posted by Abraham

Anyway, submarines will never be empty again...

And that's Good!

[Donner]

I sincerely hope that the devs implement a randomized crew name generator. I found it disappointing that the crew's names were scripted out of the box in SH3.

[DeepSix]

Originally Posted by Donner

"Heinz, you know it's your bedtime now. Go turn in!"....

:rotfl:
"I want a drink o' water!"
"Captain read me a story!"
"Don't make me come in here again."

I like the idea of a reasonably random amount of crew illness or injury.