What specialties do you assign to your officers?

[tycho102]

I absolutely agree with Duncan. Two radiomen, without question, first. Give them whatever medals you earn, too. Iron crosses and the works.

As far as officers, it really varies. I tend to think you need a machinist (I'm talking about starting in 1939, here) before anything else. You usually have a watch officer, watch monkey (petty officer) and three torpedomen, and that's enough. Two engine monkeys and an officer will give you an extra knot while you're on time-compression and cruising toward your destination. Even more important underwater on batteries.

After that, just about anything works. A medic will help out your enlisted personel, but you really need to cross-rate him with navigator or something, so he's useful when he's sleeping and on duty. I usually cross-rate my watch officer to torpedo, since I'm usually underwater when launching torps. However, having a watch/flak gunner will crank that green bar across like no other combination in the world.

Once you get a couple radiomen, and an officer machinist, the most important thing is the distribution of medals. You need to give your radiomen top priority, but your machinist and watchmen should come next, in that order. After that it's up for dibbs, except for the medical guys. Meds should get medals very last, because they are most useful in the bunks.

Cross rating all officers with medic is a good idea, because of the boost in regeneration.