Understanding Medals/Renown/Badges in basic.cfg

[frau kaleun]

As the thread title indicates I need a little help with understanding how some sections of the basic.cfg file work, in terms of how medals, badges, and promotions are awarded. F'rinstance:

[PLAYER_RENOWN]
AcademyBonus=1000
RankLevel0=0; SCORE
RankLevel1=1499; SCORE
RankLevel2=7999; SCORE
RankLevel3=14999; SCORE
MedalSettings0=0.25
MedalSettings1=0.5
MedalSettings2=1
MedalScore0=3000;2 class, SCORE
MedalScore1=7000;1 class, SCORE
MedalScore2=15000; knight, SCORE
MedalScore3=25000; oak leaves, SCORE
MedalScore4=37000;swords, SCORE
MedalScore5=50000;diamonds, SCORE
MedalScore6=80000;all, SCORE

In the MedalScore lines, I thought the number after = was how much renown you had to have to get that particular medal. When I finished my first combat patrol I know I had just over 3000 renown and I got the IC 2nd class. But I just finished another patrol with a renown of 4995 and got the IC 1st class... so what does the 7000 in MedalScore1=7000;1 class, SCORE refer to if not total renown earned so far in one's career?

[Lord_magerius]

I think it is just the renown that you earn accumulating. I've had patrols where I've only gained maybe 200 renown but it's been enough to get me my next medal despite my sub-par performance on said patrol.

[ryanglavin]

for the sake of a bump, I'll just throw one in.

It could be that the game is acting as if you were on 100% difficulty, so a 200 renown ship would become a 400 renown ship.

Or maybe theres a hidden variable, like a X1.5 when awarding medals

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by ryanglavin

for the sake of a bump, I'll just throw one in.

It could be that the game is acting as if you were on 100% difficulty, so a 200 renown ship would become a 400 renown ship.

Or maybe theres a hidden variable, like a X1.5 when awarding medals

I've already edited the realism settings so that the game thinks I'm playing at 99% realism even though I'm not. I know I'm getting more renown than I would normally get playing with the realism options I have, which would probably be around 60% if I hadn't fiddled with the relevant files. That's not the issue.

My question is, if the line

MedalScore1=7000;1 class, SCORE

doesn't mean I need a renown of 7000 or more to get the IC 1st Class, then what does the "7000" refer to? If it does refer to renown, then I don't understand how renown works, because I finished a patrol with less than 5000 renown for my career thus far and still got the medal.

I'm assuming that "SCORE" refers to renown and that renown is cumulative - meaning, whatever renown I earn on patrol 2 gets added to what I had after finishing patrol 1, and so on, so that my current total equals what I started my career with plus the amounts earned on each patrol so far. But my current total does not equal the "SCORE" it looks like I should have in order to earn the medals the game keeps giving me.

So either I don't understand how renown works, or those lines in the basic.cfg mean something other than what I think they do. I'd like to know exactly how it all works because getting another grade of IC every time I finish a patrol just doesn't feel right.

[pickinthebanjo]

Don't mind me while I steal this thread for a moment (No sence in starting one for this question)

What is the highest rank you can acheive in SH3 with GWX3 installed?

[frau kaleun]

No problem, I'm open to any and all discussions of renown/rank/awards because I really want to understand how all those lines from the basic.cfg work and what numbers they are referring to and how it's all calculated. I'd like to mod in edits so that things happen in a historically more appropriate fashion, but without understanding what I need to change and by how much I'm at a loss.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I've already edited the realism settings so that the game thinks I'm playing at 99% realism even though I'm not. I know I'm getting more renown than I would normally get playing with the realism options I have, which would probably be around 60% if I hadn't fiddled with the relevant files.

CHEATER!




Did you get that idea from me?

I've been doing that for a very long time, which is funny because I never use the renown to buy anything.

As to your question, that now has me puzzled. I too always thought it was the score required for that medal. It certainly seems to work that way for promotions, as GWX changes it to 1499 for the first one, so you become Oberleutnant immediately following the first patrol.

So I don't know about the medals. Sorry to be so little help.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

CHEATER!

Did you get that idea from me?

I've been doing that for a very long time, which is funny because I never use the renown to buy anything.

Well since I'm quite happy with a Type VII I doubt I'll be upgrading anything anytime soon either, except for maybe upgrading from a VIIB to a VIIC and even that's not a given.

As to your question, that now has me puzzled. I too always thought it was the score required for that medal.

I still think it is, but obviously the "score" in question does not equate to the renown the game tells me I have after a patrol. I have always assumed that when I end a patrol, the renown it says I have is my total renown for my career to date. But if that's the case, something else that I don't know about is being added to make up the "score" that awards me the medal I get.

If the renown shown after a patrol is only what I earned on that single patrol, and doesn't include what I got for previous patrols, then yeah I probably qualify for all the medals I've gotten so far if the ending renown for all the patrols are added up. But that seems to me like such an odd way of doing it - like it's keeping your total score a secret unless you make a point of keeping track of it yourself outside the game. Didn't occur to me that this might be exactly what it's doing until now.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds is the highest award you can get in Silent Hunter III. Is there a mod out there that will award you the Silver U-Boat Clasp, the German Cross in Silver, the Grand Cross and the Star to the Grand Cross?

-Matt

[RoaldLarsen]

@frau kaleun:

Did you ever figure this out?

[frau kaleun]

AFAIK there is no way to add additional medals into the game, if anyone knows otherwise feel free to elaborate on how this is done.

I can see why adding the U-Boat Front Clasp in silver would be an interesting idea, at least from what I know of it... even though very few men would've lasted long enough to merit getting it. In RL very few of them appear to have been awarded either version when compared to the number of ICs (and its various "upgrades") that were awarded. Just getting the bronze version probably took a lot - it seems to have been a decoration for extended or unusually exemplary performance in combat. It wasn't even introduced until 1944 (bronze in May, and silver in November).

According to uboat.net, the German Cross in silver was only awarded to non-combatants - combatants would receive it in gold if the award was merited at all. So adding that as a possible decoration for a combat commander would not be historically accurate anyway.

IIRC the only person awarded the Grand Cross after its reinstitution in 1939 was Herman Göring, in recognition (ostensibly) of the outstanding performance of the Luftwaffe during the German offensives up to and including the successful occupation of France. Considering that he was also awarded a special rank at that time, one created just for him so he could outrank pretty much everyone else in the Wehrmacht, it seems unlikely that a comparatively low-ranking u-boat commander would ever get his own Grand Cross. I think the award itself was originally intended only for the most successful generals (or high-ranking leaders) of the German military and its various branches.

According to Wikipedia, the Star was only awarded twice in its entire history - once to some guy who led German armies to victory over Napoleon, and then to Paul von Hindenburg in WWI. In other words: not an award that would be handed out for anything other than leadership, service, and/or success at the very highest level. When it was reinstituted in 1939, it was only to be awarded after Germany won the war and then to only one man, her most successful general of the entire conflict.

Obviously there was no victory and it was never awarded. In terms of historical accuracy, there would be zero chance of a u-boat commander ever getting this blingy pinned to his uniform.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

I thought the ranks for the game were as follows:

Seaman
Senior Seaman
Chief Seaman
Warrant Officer
Senior Warrant Officer
Chief Senior Warrant Officer
Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jr.
Lieutenant Sr.

However, after my last patrol, I was promoted Lieutenant Commander. Has anyone gone higher than this? What's the highest rank in the game without any mods or the like?

-Matt

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by ijnfleetadmiral

I thought the ranks for the game were as follows:

Seaman
Senior Seaman
Chief Seaman
Warrant Officer
Senior Warrant Officer
Chief Senior Warrant Officer
Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jr.
Lieutenant Sr.

However, after my last patrol, I was promoted Lieutenant Commander. Has anyone gone higher than this? What's the highest rank in the game without any mods or the like?

-Matt

Kapitan zur See is the highest rank in the en_menu.txt file, but the basic.cfg file seems to provide for only four ranks, the last being "Kaleun" (Lieutenant Commander).

I've been modded up so long that I cannot remember what rank I achieved playing stock, but I am pretty sure "Kaleun" was the highest.

This thread may help you further:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=174120

[FIREWALL]

I would like a mod that would award me the Knights Cross is I sunk something exceptional. Even if It's my first patrol.

Like a Battleship or Carrier.

[RoaldLarsen]

I should have made my question more specific.

Did you ever figure out the meaning of the SCORE lines in Basic.cfg that relate to promotion? You had determined that they did not correspond to current reknown.