some questions

[thebigJ_A]

Hey guys. I have a few questions, if you have several minutes to spare for a newb.

1. According to the manual, the medals you can award to your crew have effects, but it neglects to mention what they are. What do they do, exactly? How about the medals you can recieve yourself? Do badges do anything?

2. Fatigue affects efficiency it seems. What does morale do? What causes it to increase and decrease? And "Resilience"? The manual mentions health, but I don't remember resilience.

3. What exactly does the experience bar do? What does the game track to determine jow much a crewman gets?

4. The electric torpedo available at the beginning of the war is described as unreliable. Is it so bad that I shouldn't bother with it? It's also described as improving after Operation Weserubung. Is that modeled in the game, so that it's better around May 1940?

5. Does having a better radioman, perhaps even possessing the "radioman" qualification, have any effect before radar and radar detectors (I assume he runs the detectors, too) are installed? Perhaps you can miss messages or something if he's bad at his job.

6. There's a little cutout in the bottom center of the target bearing dial in the TDC with little two-digit numbers in it. The left number is red and the right is green, but they don't seem to go in any order as it turns. What the heck is that thing?

7. Underneath the Fore Reserves are "Extra Reserves". What's different about them?

8. Somebody tell me where the "win" button is. I can't seem to find it.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

4. The electric torpedo available at the beginning of the war is described as unreliable. Is it so bad that I shouldn't bother with it? It's also described as improving after Operation Weserubung. Is that modeled in the game, so that it's better around May 1940?

5. Does having a better radioman, perhaps even possessing the "radioman" qualification, have any effect before radar and radar detectors (I assume he runs the detectors, too) are installed? Perhaps you can miss messages or something if he's bad at his job.

7. Underneath the Fore Reserves are "Extra Reserves". What's different about them?

8. Somebody tell me where the "win" button is. I can't seem to find it.

I will answer the ones I know for sure.

4. Electrics (TII) work just fine & in fact are preferred for attacking capital warships, as they won't see the wake left by a TI. Both TI and TII torps can carry either impact or magnetic/impact pistols. The magnetic/impact pistol can be unreliable in rough weather, but given the better bang it produces, it's an OK trade-off, IMO.

5. Giving the "sparky" qualification to two petty officers and putting them both in the radio/hydrophone room will increase your hydrophone man's efficiency (the green bar at top of compartment). It does not affect the radioman's work. The "sparky" qualification does NOT work for officers, so don't bother. (and, you didn't ask, but NO qualification works for sailors).

7. No difference.

8. Heh. Good hunting.

[Bakkels]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

Hey guys. I have a few questions, if you have several minutes to spare for a newb.

1. According to the manual, the medals you can award to your crew have effects, but it neglects to mention what they are. What do they do, exactly? How about the medals you can recieve yourself? Do badges do anything?

2. Fatigue affects efficiency it seems. What does morale do? What causes it to increase and decrease? And "Resilience"? The manual mentions health, but I don't remember resilience.

3. What exactly does the experience bar do? What does the game track to determine jow much a crewman gets?

4. The electric torpedo available at the beginning of the war is described as unreliable. Is it so bad that I shouldn't bother with it? It's also described as improving after Operation Weserubung. Is that modeled in the game, so that it's better around May 1940?

5. Does having a better radioman, perhaps even possessing the "radioman" qualification, have any effect before radar and radar detectors (I assume he runs the detectors, too) are installed? Perhaps you can miss messages or something if he's bad at his job.

6. There's a little cutout in the bottom center of the target bearing dial in the TDC with little two-digit numbers in it. The left number is red and the right is green, but they don't seem to go in any order as it turns. What the heck is that thing?

7. Underneath the Fore Reserves are "Extra Reserves". What's different about them?

8. Somebody tell me where the "win" button is. I can't seem to find it.

Those are some damn good questions. Some of these I wondered about for myself for a long time, but every time I close the game, I forget to post them here so thanks for that .
But I also have some answers.

1. I noticed that some medals (the one I'm sure about is the Iron Cross
second class) improve your crews resilience. The medals you get
yourself are for fun only, they don't have any effect ingame.

2. Morale, I got no idea about, and always wondered this myself.
Resilience affects how soon a crew member get's tired. I know
that much

3. I'm wondering about this one too. But it feels like crew members
all get the same experience per patrol. So my guess is the game
just bases experience on the amount of patrols the crew member
has under his belt. Not sure though.

4. They do tend to be a bit more unreliable but not so much that half of
them won't go off or anything. I use them from the start of the war,
but they do get more reliable later on (I read somewhere here on the
forum that this is scripted in the game)

5. No idea about this one. But I'm pretty sure you wont miss any
messages or anything. He might be less accurate at detecting targets
or he might not be able to pick them up from long range, but again
I'm not sure.

6. Not the slightest idea.

7. nothing

Hope this helps a little bit..

[Missing Name]

#4: Yes, they do seem a bit less reliable. However, early on in the war, neither are exactly pristine. Depth-keeping issues are not modeled in the game, as far as I know.

#7: In real life, the "Fore" reserves were located under the floorboards. The "Extra" reserves were suspended from the torpedo room ceiling. In effect, it was easier to use the extras first; it seems GWX models this and uses them before any others.

[maillemaker]

1. According to the manual, the medals you can award to your crew have effects, but it neglects to mention what they are. What do they do, exactly? How about the medals you can recieve yourself? Do badges do anything?

Medals help with fatigue. By the time you get the second-to-highest one (Gold cross?) the holder of the medal never fatigues again ever. I strive to get this for all of my officers, my mechanics, and radio/sonar operators ASAP.

2. Fatigue affects efficiency it seems. What does morale do? What causes it to increase and decrease? And "Resilience"? The manual mentions health, but I don't remember resilience.

I don't know what morale does.

3. What exactly does the experience bar do? What does the game track to determine jow much a crewman gets?

Experience determines whether or not a crewman is eligible for promotion.

4. The electric torpedo available at the beginning of the war is described as unreliable. Is it so bad that I shouldn't bother with it? It's also described as improving after Operation Weserubung. Is that modeled in the game, so that it's better around May 1940?

Aside from the random dud torpedoes, the only unreliability I have seen with torpedoes is when they are set to magnetic. The failure mechanism is that they pre-detonate. This is more likely to happen in rough weather, and is more likely to happen at ranges over 1000m.

Since magnetics are tricky to use in rough weather anyway (ship may buck in the waves and rise over the torpedo), it's best to go for impact in rough weather.

If you can fire at ranges under 1000m you are unlikely to have predetonation problems.

I don't know if the TII influence fuse ever changes during the war, but the TIII comes along and is said to be more reliable.

I carry electrics exclusively except for those stored in the outside storage compartments, which, historically, had to be steamers.

Late in the war it may be necessary to resort to the long-range capabilities of steam torpedoes in order to survive the attack.

5. Does having a better radioman, perhaps even possessing the "radioman" qualification, have any effect before radar and radar detectors (I assume he runs the detectors, too) are installed? Perhaps you can miss messages or something if he's bad at his job.

Having good, qualified radiomen increases the efficiency rating of the sonar/radio compartment (green bar). This makes your sonar man able to detect things better. Probably lets the radio man swap records faster, too.

6. There's a little cutout in the bottom center of the target bearing dial in the TDC with little two-digit numbers in it. The left number is red and the right is green, but they don't seem to go in any order as it turns. What the heck is that thing?

No idea.

7. Underneath the Fore Reserves are "Extra Reserves". What's different about them?

Functionally? Nothing. They are still stored "inside the boat". My guess is that they are stored under flooring or something and as such were harder to get to historically.

8. Somebody tell me where the "win" button is. I can't seem to find it.

Me either.

Steve

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Having good, qualified radiomen increases the efficiency rating of the sonar/radio compartment (green bar). This makes your sonar man able to detect things better. Probably lets the radio man swap records faster, too.

Not to mention he can swap the posters real quick (if you enable through Commander). Now you're talking essential skills...

[Pisces]

6: Since the dial shows you the angles 0 to 180 to both sides it is difficult to read the exact degree. The cut out window shows the first digit of the degree the dials is set to. The side-color determines which number is valid. As 183 port (3 degrees beyond aft) is equivalent to 177 starboard. They are shown together because they are complementing to 10. But for some reason it jumps around a little as you set the needle.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by Bakkels

4. They do tend to be a bit more unreliable but not so much that half of
them won't go off or anything. I use them from the start of the war,
but they do get more reliable later on (I read somewhere here on the
forum that this is scripted in the game)

Unreliable in what way?

The depth-keeping is perfect, despite what the game "says". If fitted with magnetic/impacts, they don't blow up prematurely any more than the TIs do.

The propulsion method has nothing to do with the detonation method. If you are worried about premature detonations, then don't use the magnetic/impact pistol. It has nothing to do with your choice of propulsion.

I use pretty much nothing but electrics early in the war. I keep one steamer on hand for speedy snapshots from behind a target, but otherwise we run electric on my boat.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by desirableroasted

I use pretty much nothing but electrics early in the war. I keep one steamer on hand for speedy snapshots from behind a target, but otherwise we run electric on my boat.

Hmmm.. I'm just the opposite (go figure! ). I run mainly steams, and have a 2 electrics loaded for that initial shot at a convoy. carry maybe 4-6 depending on boat size, rest are all steamers.

[thebigJ_A]

Thanks for the answers, everyone. I guess the only one that hasn't been answered is the first part of #2, "What does morale do? What causes it to increase and decrease?" Is that just a mystery to everyone?

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Medals help with fatigue. By the time you get the second-to-highest one (Gold cross?) the holder of the medal never fatigues again ever.

So they all just help with fatigue? If the second-best one makes fatigue irrelevant. what's the best one do?

Originally Posted by Fish In The Water

Not to mention he can swap the posters real quick (if you enable through Commander). Now you're talking essential skills...

Swap posters? I don't see that in Commander anywhere.

That actually made me think of something else, in the fatigue model options in commander, there's standard, no fatigue, Rub, Rub 1xTC, and GWX 8-hour. I've been using the GWX 8-hour one since I'm playing with GWX, but what do the two "Rub" ones do?

[King_Zog]

I can't remember what all the different medals do exactly, but some effect experience and morale. For example, the Iron Cross 2nd Class gives the crew member an experience boost.

I tend to run with no fatigue enabled. I don't like the way it has been implemented into the game, too much boring micro managing for me.

(I recently started playing SH4 so I could play US Navy fleet boats for a change, It does a few things better than SH3 such as a much improved crew management system and fatigue model. Your crew are put into shifts which rotate automatically, and you can call 'action stations' for those situations when you need the extra man power. Although I haven't played much yet as I really miss the simplicity of the German 'point&shoot' TDC, the American TDC is very different and seems to be a much more complicated beast).

As for morale, having very low morale may work much like low fatigue and reduce the working efficiency of your crew. The morale bar goes down the longer you are at sea, and takes a hit if you start taking damage or crew members get killed. It goes up when you sink ships. Although I have yet to notice any real effect on the crew, but again I run with fatigue off which may effect morale too.

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

Swap posters? I don't see that in Commander anywhere.

It's a pinup mod that was designed to take advantage of Commander's random/date function...

Details can be found in the following threads:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=149702

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=147075


I think the download links are dead, but you can still snag the pinups here:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1276

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1277

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...o=file&id=1278

Enjoy and have fun!

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by thebigJ_A

So they all just help with fatigue? If the second-best one makes fatigue irrelevant. what's the best one do?

Since it's agreed that the crew management is broken in SH3, and was pretty well fixed in SH4, just turn off fatigue in SHC. That way you won't be tempted to give out medals crew haven't earned yet.

[thebigJ_A]

Oh yeah, what about badges, like the wound badge, for instance?

I wish I could see the numbers, like "Knight's Cross increases Morale by x".

[King_Zog]

I don't think the wound badge has much of an in-game effect, it might increase the resiliance bar a tad. And they are tough to get, as individual casualties are pretty rare (atleast for me) and most injuries generally result in death.

You could easily find out yourself by just awarding one of each decoration in SH3 commander, and then noting any changes to the crew members stats. Playing with no fatigue, I tend not to worry about it at all and just award medals as the game lets me.

Although I do tend to give everyone a uboat war badge after their second patrol, and if someone does something amazing like shoot down an aeroplane they get an Iron Cross.