"Realistic" Crew Management

[imbiginjapan]

I received SHIV for Christmas and while I find it very enjoyable (especially with realism mods) I've been a bit disappointed in the crew management. With the morale that doesn't seem to do anything, the medals that basically amount to a couple extra icons on the crew scren, and the somewhat inscrutable efficiency mechanics it just doesn't feel like the crew is really an intrinsic part of the boat.

Being a bit of an immersion junkie this is kind of bothering me. Since I don't expect some sort of massive overhaul via a mod (though that would be great!) I'd like to play with the idea that the crew is an evolving group of individuals, and 'roleplay' out crew management decisions a bit more actively.

One thing I'd like to do is make sure that some crew rotates off the boat after a patrol. It's just not realistic that your crew would remain static through an entire war. Since the game doesn't appear to do this automatically, does anyone here manually do this and if so, how you decide how many and who to retire and replace?
Secondly, how do you dole out promotions and medals? What's your decision process in this regard?

Thanks for any ideas.

[M. Sarsfield]

I've thought about rotating out some officers and elnlisted men after each patrol. Turn loose the experienced vets and bring some green horns on board to keep things interesting.

As for medals, I at least keep track of who got wounded the worst (for purple hearts) and who shot enemy planes down, if any were shot down. The game is pretty stingy with medals (including wound medals) and often times I'm forced to give the only star to the highest ranking junior officer.

[fred8615]

I seem to notice the little green bar going up a bit when I award a medal to someone in that group, so maybe it does affect something.

As for rotation, I only move people out after promotions.

[mookiemookie]

A boat could lose up to 20% of its crew after a patrol. XO's usually didn't stick around for longer than 4 or 5 patrols before moving on to their own command. I rotate out based around those general guidelines, which are based on what I've read. This way I don't end up with a boat full of petty officer supermen.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

A boat could lose up to 20% of its crew after a patrol. XO's usually didn't stick around for longer than 4 or 5 patrols before moving on to their own command. I rotate out based around those general guidelines, which are based on what I've read. This way I don't end up with a boat full of petty officer supermen.

This is a nice way to mix things up, add some immersion


RDP

[EAF274 Johan]

Originally Posted by M. Sarsfield

The game is pretty stingy with medals (including wound medals) and often times I'm forced to give the only star to the highest ranking junior officer.

I usually get a boatload of medals for my crew, and I don't even sink much tonnage. I'm using the RFB mod.

I also try to keep track of who got wounded, who shot down an aircraft, and, in those rare cases when it happens, had "fanatical" morale when the going got rough. The rest of the medals I give as a goodbye present to the crew that I am rotating out On my current campaign patrol I managed to get 16 crewmembers killed (ran into a mine), so they'll get their medals posthumously if I make it home.

I agree that there should be more meaning to morale. Only very rarely I see one or two crew members who are either "broken" or "fanatical", and this only seems to happen after taking damage. It would be nice if morale got lower if you spend a long time at sea without success, and spread around the boat if you don't have enough officers with leadership skills. And that it would carry over between patrols. Because as soon as you enter port (or load a saved game), morale appears to be reset to Normal.

[Blue]

I have settled on some numbers for the crew of my Tambor........6 officers, 11 Chiefs and a Seaman/PO ratio of 1/2(not sure if thats typical though). I will remove members randomly to maintain this composition. Most often chiefs and PO will go. This, i think is typical in rw. Carrer changes, contract ending, etc. I will most often recruit seaman. I try not to have a "perfect" manpower composition also. A section or two may be headed by a PO. A deck watch may go with a Chief leading.

Tom

[Hoss1193]

Originally Posted by Blue

I have settled on some numbers for the crew of my Tambor........6 officers, 11 Chiefs and a Seaman/PO ratio of 1/2(not sure if thats typical though). I will remove members randomly to maintain this composition. Most often chiefs and PO will go. This, i think is typical in rw. Carrer changes, contract ending, etc. I will most often recruit seaman. I try not to have a "perfect" manpower composition also. A section or two may be headed by a PO. A deck watch may go with a Chief leading.

Tom

I'm a little confused by this.

I began current (and first) career - an early '42 - in a Porpoise, progressed up through Gato, and currently nearing war end in Balao. Began career with something like 8 or 10 khaki (officers + chiefs). After a couple of patrols, I decided to rotate senior Lieutenants off and get some more Ensigns and Chiefs.

So I move out LT Supersailor, and try to drag in ENS Tenderfoot...and uh oh, despite LT Supersailor having transferred off the boat, I *still* had "too many officers". Hmmm....well let's see how far this goes....I wound up kicking guys off the boat until I was down to FIVE officers and chiefs before I could recruit one or promote one of my 1st Classes to Chief. Had a similar experience with Petty Officers when I winnowed them down to see where the "promotion/recruitment" limit was (I think this was either my last patrol in the Porpoise or first patrol in the Gato when I did this).

Ever since, through all Gato and Balao patrols, I've been maxed out at six officers+chiefs combined. So yeah, I not only have Petty Officers in charge of compartment watches...I have Petty Officers in charge of MOST compartment watches.

I spread out my khaki among the compartments - one in Engine Room, one in Conning Tower, one in each Torpedo Room, etc etc. With six compartments and three watch sections, that's 18 different regularly rotating watch teams...12 of them headed by Petty Officers.

Now, if that's the limit, cool, 6 khaki for a crew of about 75 seems reasonable enough (actually, that seems a little light by modern practice - IRL, I served on a minehunter with 9 khaki in a crew of 50 - but WW2 might have been different). I'm still puzzled, however, by these questions...

1. If the limit was that low, then how/why did the game START me with many more Khaki and Petty Officers on my first, smaller boat? and...

2. How is it that some folks seem to have many more khaki (and/or P.O.s) on their boats and are able to move them around easilyl?

Is there some basic management tool that I've completely missed (linked to Renown perhaps? I'm sitting on 29k Renown in late '44..is that average, high, low?)

Separate-but-related...for special abilities (e.g., Riposte, Perfect Pitch, etc), I've only seen Officers or Chiefs develop those...yet I've read posts that seem to indicate that other folks have many more than six of these abilities on their boats. Have never seen a Petty Officer pop an Ability; does it happen?

[rubenandthejets]

I know where your coming from-I dont see how the abilties match the classes sometimes and how to get the best mix of crew in each compartment-but I'm new and still searching the veritable encyclopaedia of stuff from other players..er capitans. I know I'll come across it sonner or later.

As for renown, I spend almost all of it every refit-lots of spanking new torps if nothing else and (goes without saying) the best radar I can wrangle.