->Enhancements to SH3 Commander<-*UPDT: v2.3 now avail

[JScones]

***LATEST RELEASE NOTES ON PAGE 13***

I'm currently working on v1.2 of the SH3 Commander engine. I plan on including some of the most requested enhancements. At this stage it will include:

- a new "Set up for a new career" option. This will mimic SH3 and will limit your year and flotilla selections to those corresponding in SH3. The starting base, month and U-Boat type will be displayed so you know what you'd be getting.

- Career Summaries (now retitled Personnel Files) and Crew Lists generated in HTML format with links. A formatted log summary is planned to be included as part of this functionality (the demo just displays the raw log file for now);

- a specific error trap to cover the situation where SH3 replaces certain values in Careers.cfg with zeroes. Until a cause for this can be found, summaries will not be able to be generated for these careers;

- ability to alter default SH3 career or patrol start dates;

- implementation of the Tonnage randomiser (Observer's creation);

I thought I'd also open the floor and seek your suggestions/comments/feedback etc. What would you like to see included in SH3 Commander? removed? enhanced? What do you like about SH3 Commander? Dislike? (C'mon, I can take criticism ).

I won't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, but some things might.

[Gaddow]

Would some form of 'hall of fame' or tonnage leaders feature be possible? I'd like to be able to compare my various careers.

[EAF274 Johan]

First of all, thank you for making this great utility!

Some negative...
- I prefer the original SH3 values for crew fatigue, hull integrity indication and a few other things. Could you use cfg files that are modelled on the original files?
- (probably an SH3 limitation) The date-specific briefings get corrupted in the game. After a few lines the text is broken off and substituted with words from the weather report ("kein Niederschlag" I think)

Feature requests:
- Use SH3Commander to edit the crew_config files so we can assign faces, uniforms and voices to each crew member
- I love the date specific radio.wavs. Can you add more?

That New Career Setup looks really interesting!

[Egan]

- ability to alter default SH3 career or patrol start dates;

Does this meen we will be able to start a career any date we want, as opposed to just the stock options?

Does it? Please? please?

That would make the game for me - no joke!

[Rubini]

Further on the dates, the ability to choice the hour of the patrol's start will be a good thing too.


Rubini.

[EAF274 Johan]

Originally Posted by Rubini

Further on the dates, the ability to choice the hour of the patrol's start will be a good thing too.

I agree

[CWorth]

Originally Posted by EAF274 Johan

Some negative...
- I prefer the original SH3 values for crew fatigue

I agree with this.Though I dont like the original crew fatigue settings.I have my own settings that I use and dont like the fact that SH3Commander overwrites them which has kept me from using what sems to be a very useful mod.

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by CWorth

I agree with this.Though I dont like the original crew fatigue settings.I have my own settings that I use and dont like the fact that SH3Commander overwrites them which has kept me from using what sems to be a very useful mod.

I agree somewhat. I like the idea of getting the crew run down, after an extended patrol but they seem to get too lethargic too soon.

I'd put a belt to some of my crew members but some of them actually appear to like it.

[Gairith]

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

I agree somewhat. I like the idea of getting the crew run down, after an extended patrol but they seem to get too lethargic too soon.

I'd put a belt to some of my crew members but some of them actually appear to like it.

:rotfl:

Request: After you retire, having a comparison graph to U-boat Aces showing how well you did as compared to real captains.

[CCIP]

Yes, it would be really good if you could allow automatically changing patrol start dates as well. (that would really help some of us at WaW )

Boat upgrade management would also be nice, though I guess that'd just be yet another shiny bonus rather than something we absolutely need.

[dize]

yay! that startdate thingie would be extremly cool.

my suggestion.... a randomizer for days in port. afaik the value is always 31 days plus the overhaul days.
when comparing to actual careers on uboat.net, we in sh3 have a too high patrol frequenzy imho.

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by dize

my suggestion.... a randomizer for days in port. afaik the value is always 31 days plus the overhaul days.
when comparing to actual careers on uboat.net, we in sh3 have a too high patrol frequenzy imho.

Excellent idea! Given how turnaround times varied (and also tended to be shorter in late war and longer early on), that would indeed be very cool. Including both a random patrol interval AND a possible manual patrol date selector would indeed be very nice.

[Gaddow]

Originally Posted by CWorth

I agree with this.Though I dont like the original crew fatigue settings.I have my own settings that I use and dont like the fact that SH3Commander overwrites them which has kept me from using what sems to be a very useful mod.

I've gone in an edited the basic config files in the SH3\flotilla folders. It seem to work but I have not tested it extensively and I don't know if it will have other unexpected effects.

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by Gairith

:rotfl:

Request: After you retire, having a comparison graph to U-boat Aces showing how well you did as compared to real captains.

I still do better, of course. The game isn't perfect but the crew management leaves much to be desired. I'm babysitting too much at late points in a patrol. The game does not necessarily fill up a given compartment with the most efficient crew I can get at any moment and that leaves me guessing.

And when this happens during an attack in progress and I need the fastest torp loading crew available, it's a real time waster.

So I believe a comprimise is in order because it's not realistic to begin with and it affects critical game components in an unfair way at times.

[Observer]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yes, it would be really good if you could allow automatically changing patrol start dates as well. (that would really help some of us at WaW )

Boat upgrade management would also be nice, though I guess that'd just be yet another shiny bonus rather than something we absolutely need.

Done. It's in my code I'm sending over tonight.

I can also add the start hour as well, but it's not built yet.