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

[caspofungin]

maybe sergbuto's multiple warship skins, along the lines of the mvp.

[gonzman]

I'd have perfered a system where unqualified personell can't do jobs they're not qualified for, or can do it at about 1/5th of the efficiancy (Say your watchman with the FLAK skill dies, you can get someone else to do it but they're far less useful).



I also think fatigue should not only impact the speed of the operations they perform (say a sloppy tired crew , trained or not, in the engine room would be slower to respond to speed change commands etc) but increase the chances of making mistakes. I'm daydreaming about having a very worn out tired but trained crew in the torpedo room load one incorrectly, or a engeering crew accidently make turns for 1 knot faster than ordered, or perhaps diving just a tiny bit too deep.

I'd day dreamed about having to manage food , illnesses (overworking , bad ration quantity, poor food, bad weather etc could lead to crew members becoming ill and therefore far less efficient) and unrest on the ship (part of overworking or stressful situations in abundance), but i guess thats beyond the scope of the game, maybe if it had more development time?


That is the kind of crew management system i'd love to play a game with, but i guess what we have now is too far from what i'd expect from a sim that in most cases does a pretty good job.

[zombiewolf]

I can't wait I use both RUB and Sub Commander .
Love em both

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by Beery

When using the crew management in SH3 Commander, if you get just a couple of qualifications you should be able to run the boat even with a fully fatigued crew. As you get more qualifications the crew will need you less and less, until by patrol 5 or 6 you shouldn't have to bother with crew management at all. There is no reason why you should be babysitting the crew late in a patrol if you've accumulated even a very few qualifications. The only time the crew needs babysitting is when they are on their first two patrols, before they've got any qualifications.

OK. This is happening to me on my 3rd patrol in my current career. I'm looking forward to the crew's improvement a few patrols up the road.

Again, I prefer your fatigue model over the game's default anyday. Maybe initial patrols fatigue is the only thing that needs to be tweaked just a drop.

[JScones]

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by Gairith

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

Yeah, I'm a bit of a stats man...I'll look into these ideas...

Originally Posted by EAF274 Johan

Use SH3Commander to edit the crew_config files so we can assign faces, uniforms and voices to each crew member

Yeah, that's easy to do and has been on the list since release 1...I've just been too lazy to play with the graphics (which have to be obtained real time due to the different commander image mods available). It takes longer to tinker with the graphics than it does to write the application!

Originally Posted by Egan

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

Well, the first day of the month anyway :-) In the screenshot in my first post you'll see that the default start month is retrieved based on Year and Flotilla selected. In the released version, I anticipate this to be adjustable, meaning that using the above example, if you select 1942 and 1st Flotilla, you'll be able to start the career any month between Apr and Dec 1942. This just needs testing in SH3 to make sure it doesn't cause problems.

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.

Hmmm. I think Observer has done some testing on this and it hasn't worked out...

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.

Yep, I think Observer has this working in his prototype.

Originally Posted by Beery

It may be possible, but I tried adjusting this a while back, and it's not a simple change - you can't just open up 1944 as a starting date in Flotilla.cfg. It may need some alteration doing in Flotillas.cfg or en/de_menu.txt as well, but I haven't explored this yet. Maybe later it will be possible.

Surely SH3 wouldn't "hard code" the upper year? (de ja vu, hey Beery???)

Originally Posted by caspofungin

maybe sergbuto's multiple warship skins, along the lines of the mvp.

Would love too. But we'd need his permission :-)

BTW, to demonstrate how easy and portable the new Personnel FIles are, here's one just created with one of Beery's careers

[Beery]

Originally Posted by JScones

Surely SH3 wouldn't "hard code" the upper year? (de ja vu, hey Beery???)

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it won't be hard coded. I wish I had more time to look into it, as this (1944-45 career starts) would be something I'd like to get working.

[edit]
Actually, I've just been looking at it again, and I've figured out how to do it. It wasn't that hard after all, but there are a couple of annoying bugs in the standard game that makes it a little annoying - one is that in certain flotillas in 1944 and 1945 you only get 1000 points of renown even if you've fully completed the training courses. The other problem is that if you start a career in 7th Flotilla in 1945 the game forces you to start in a Type IIA, which is a little silly. I'm wondering if it would be best to disallow 1945 starts in 7th Flotilla?

[edit #2]
The 7th Flotilla bug is only intermittent. You can get a Type VIIC if you click on other flotillas before choosing 7th Flotilla, so I think I'll leave it in. It will now be possible to start in any flotilla in any year, and once Jaesen gets the 'any month' thing figured out we'll have almost all the flexibiity (in terms of start dates) anyone could desire.

Would love too. But we'd need his permission :-)]

The problem with doing this is that Sergbuto's multiple skin mod uses files that are also adjusted in the Ops mod, and I don't know enough about those particular files to merge the two versions. Maybe someone working on Ops will figure it out or clue me in on it.

[BladeHeart]

This reply should have been added last night but I added it as part of a reply on another thread; been a long day.

Personally I like Beery's fatigue modification.

A suggestion, or three

How about a system that automatically transferred crew in between patrols when they are eligible for promotion and there is not a suitable position in your crew to take. For example the 1st officer who should be promoted to his own boat.

Also, the ability to start a new career with an existing crew. When a career ends due to the realistic setting, I think it would be great to have the choice starting a new career in the same boat, as if you were taking over from the transferred captain.

Finally, the ability to purchase skilled petty officers, i.e a medic or machinist for renown beyond what you would pay for the unskilled crew equivalent. Could this be done by purchasing the unskilled crew in SH3 and then the qualification in SH3Cmdr which deleted the appropriate amount from your renown?
If the qualifications for the seamen becomes more then cosmetic, then I would like the option for this to be also applied to them.

Great work, regardless.

[JScones]

OK, just letting you all know how the next version is progressing...

So far included:
- better integration with SH3 by linking Date, Flotilla and U-Boat selection to that allowed by SH3 (through Flotilla.cfg) when starting a new career (no more selecting XXI U-Boat in 33 Flotilla in 1939);
- ability to start new careers in any month between 9/39 and 5/45 (Flotilla availability as per Flotilla.cfg);
- option to randomise days spent in base based on historical averages (still fine tuning this);
- option of returning (or removing) the "Hull Integrity %" text in SH3
- Career Summary now retitled to Personnel File;
- Personnel Files and Crew Lists in HTML format, linked;
- specifically advises if required information can not be found in career files when generating Commander history - now handles gracefully (no more ambiguous error messages);
- many (interface) tweaks and code improvements.

Still to go (at least):
- HTML Log Summaries (underway);
- HTML "Hall of Fame" and U-Boat Aces list, linked to the Personnel File Tonnage total;
- improved tonnage randomiser (from Observer);
- ship name randomiser (from Observer);
- ability to adjust officer faces, uniforms and voices in Crew Manager.

Feel free to continue to raise suggestions...

[Rubini]

Great!

And about the possibility to choice the start hour... Any chance?:hmm:

Rubini.

[larsen]

Aaaarrrgh ! Another great release that will force me to start another career again !

Seriously, with every new release of RuB and the Commander I barely had more than three patrols in any career since the past two months... because I do want to get all these new features !

Doesn't matter guys, I love and admire the great job you do with these mods !

BTW, in a post long time ago I wondered if it would be possible to couple SH3 Commander with the Milk Cow mod, maybe as an option... The idea would be that if you dock to a Milk Cow you start your new patrol the next (or same) day while if you dock to a regular base you have the usual delay.

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by larsen

Aaaarrrgh ! Another great release that will force me to start another career again !

Whose forcing you?

At the most, you'll have to restart the last patrol you began.

And I wonder if SH3 Commander requires that, too?

[Beery]

Yes. You should be able to switch over in mid-career. I have a career that I started using an early version of RUb and SH3 Commander, and it's working fine with the newest version.

[larsen]

Originally Posted by Beery

Yes. You should be able to switch over in mid-career. I have a career that I started using an early version of RUb and SH3 Commander, and it's working fine with the newest version.

Nobody's forcing me except myself... I just NEED to have the new features from the start of my career !

[JScones]

If anyone is interested, here is what the new Personnel File now looks like - complete with links to Crew lists, Captain's logs and U-Boat Aces list (as at current career date). All generated in about one second by pressing the "Summary" button.

[Gaddow]

The career summary looks excellant. I can't wait for the next version. How's progress on the 'Best Career' feature going? I don't know if it's possible or feasible but it would be great to be able to sort the list by various things like tonnage, ships sunk, number of patrols, etc.