Realistic S-Class Crew Configs

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Galanti

Have you got plans for the Sargo and Salmons? I imagine applying this mod would involve starting a new career.

Also, have you tested in career mode and are there any issues when upgrading to a new boat? I'm just wondering if the egine expects all the sub classes to have the same layout.

Yes, I have plans for the Salmon and Sargo, plus all the other ones out there I've not yet touched. Now that I know how the coding works it's a simple update to each file.

I've tested this in career mode, and so far it works fine. I don't see why there'd be any problems with crew layout, as each class of boat uses its own unique crew config file.

[LukeFF]

One more for the road (Tambor Class) before I start a weekend full of work:



All the fleet boats will pretty much look like this, as you can probably tell by comparing this shot with the Gato one above. I wanted to add in an extra three slots in each torpedo room, but the game would have none of that.

Hopefully I'll have this all wrapped up by mid-week next week.

[LukeFF]

I'm just about done finishing up this mod. 1942 Gato:



Among the improvements to come with this mod:

-CPOs now have the Command speciality
-Proper CPO distribution
-Variable Electrical speciality ratings for the seamen, to simulate the improving radar technology
-Crewmen with previous patrol experience
-Overall lack of crew experience for the S-boats (including Watch Officer Ensigns)

Hopefully, I'll have all this wrapped up by sometime tomorrow. This has taken a lot of tweaking and scribbling of notes, but we're almost home.

[XanderF]

If you do find a way to get extra people in the torpedo rooms, that'd be GREAT. 4, somehow...doesn't seem right.

[tater]

The 4 are the watch, at battle stations that's all 3 watches, right? (12)

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by XanderF

If you do find a way to get extra people in the torpedo rooms, that'd be GREAT. 4, somehow...doesn't seem right.

I've tried to do that, but unfortunately it doesn't want to work. Given that you should be at battlestations when reloading torpedoes, I think 16 guys all in there at once is more than enough. I've been in a Balao-class sub, and there just isn't a whole lot of elbow room up there with all that machinery and torpedoes lying about. Off-duty, conversely, it makes sense that 4 guys would be checking and maintaining one torpedo at a time. So, I think it all works out pretty well.

[hmatthias]

thanks again for doing this. I have done a little of this just at the beginning of the patrol, and it does help the realism factor alot. Now my stations aren't all "full green" every shift because some crewman just aren't experienced enough yet. Forces you to make decisions, such as "should I go to battlestations to increase my chances of detecting a contact I know is out there?"

One question I have on crew management, however. How should we handle promotions? For example, if one of my CPOs gets promoted, should I transfer him off the boat, or transfer one of my older officers? Just wondering, because I don't want an eventual mix of all petty officers are something.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by hmatthias

thanks again for doing this. I have done a little of this just at the beginning of the patrol, and it does help the realism factor alot. Now my stations aren't all "full green" every shift because some crewman just aren't experienced enough yet. Forces you to make decisions, such as "should I go to battlestations to increase my chances of detecting a contact I know is out there?"

That's great news. These are just the sort of decisions a player should be making in a game like this. With the standard game players could basically ignore the whole crew management screen unless the boat was taking damage. I'm hoping that this new system will get the player involved more in managing the crew in the way that a real commander would.

One question I have on crew management, however. How should we handle promotions? For example, if one of my CPOs gets promoted, should I transfer him off the boat, or transfer one of my older officers? Just wondering, because I don't want an eventual mix of all petty officers are something.

I was wondering the same thing. I'm hoping that the gap between a CPO's points and those of a junior officer are big enough so that it rarely happens.

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by hmatthias

One question I have on crew management, however. How should we handle promotions? For example, if one of my CPOs gets promoted, should I transfer him off the boat, or transfer one of my older officers? Just wondering, because I don't want an eventual mix of all petty officers are something.

Personally, if one of my CPOs comes up for promotion, I will transfer him off the boat, to simulate him going back to the states for stateside duty.

BTW, for CPO distribution, I found a nice document online that listed the commissioning crew for the USS Cod in 1943. In it I found the following CPO distribution:

-2 Machinist Mates
-1 Motor Machinist Mate
-1 Quartermaster
-1 Electrician's Mate
-1 Torpedoman's Mate

And as such I've distributed them throughout the boat as seen in the picture above. I've fixed the problem of the torpedo CPO having the torpedman's qual, BTW. The only one I've left off is the Electrician's Mate, since from the job description it looks like he wouldn't really fit in anywhere in the compartments we have. For the S-boats I have only two Engine Room CPOs, due to the reduced amount of machinery on board (2 diesels and 2 electric motors, as opposed to the 4 and 4 of the fleet boats).