Understanding Medals/Renown/Badges in basic.cfg

[frau kaleun]

AFAIK there is no way to add additional medals into the game, if anyone knows otherwise feel free to elaborate on how this is done.

I can see why adding the U-Boat Front Clasp in silver would be an interesting idea, at least from what I know of it... even though very few men would've lasted long enough to merit getting it. In RL very few of them appear to have been awarded either version when compared to the number of ICs (and its various "upgrades") that were awarded. Just getting the bronze version probably took a lot - it seems to have been a decoration for extended or unusually exemplary performance in combat. It wasn't even introduced until 1944 (bronze in May, and silver in November).

According to uboat.net, the German Cross in silver was only awarded to non-combatants - combatants would receive it in gold if the award was merited at all. So adding that as a possible decoration for a combat commander would not be historically accurate anyway.

IIRC the only person awarded the Grand Cross after its reinstitution in 1939 was Herman Göring, in recognition (ostensibly) of the outstanding performance of the Luftwaffe during the German offensives up to and including the successful occupation of France. Considering that he was also awarded a special rank at that time, one created just for him so he could outrank pretty much everyone else in the Wehrmacht, it seems unlikely that a comparatively low-ranking u-boat commander would ever get his own Grand Cross. I think the award itself was originally intended only for the most successful generals (or high-ranking leaders) of the German military and its various branches.

According to Wikipedia, the Star was only awarded twice in its entire history - once to some guy who led German armies to victory over Napoleon, and then to Paul von Hindenburg in WWI. In other words: not an award that would be handed out for anything other than leadership, service, and/or success at the very highest level. When it was reinstituted in 1939, it was only to be awarded after Germany won the war and then to only one man, her most successful general of the entire conflict.

Obviously there was no victory and it was never awarded. In terms of historical accuracy, there would be zero chance of a u-boat commander ever getting this blingy pinned to his uniform.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

I thought the ranks for the game were as follows:

Seaman
Senior Seaman
Chief Seaman
Warrant Officer
Senior Warrant Officer
Chief Senior Warrant Officer
Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jr.
Lieutenant Sr.

However, after my last patrol, I was promoted Lieutenant Commander. Has anyone gone higher than this? What's the highest rank in the game without any mods or the like?

-Matt

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by ijnfleetadmiral

I thought the ranks for the game were as follows:

Seaman
Senior Seaman
Chief Seaman
Warrant Officer
Senior Warrant Officer
Chief Senior Warrant Officer
Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jr.
Lieutenant Sr.

However, after my last patrol, I was promoted Lieutenant Commander. Has anyone gone higher than this? What's the highest rank in the game without any mods or the like?

-Matt

Kapitan zur See is the highest rank in the en_menu.txt file, but the basic.cfg file seems to provide for only four ranks, the last being "Kaleun" (Lieutenant Commander).

I've been modded up so long that I cannot remember what rank I achieved playing stock, but I am pretty sure "Kaleun" was the highest.

This thread may help you further:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=174120

[FIREWALL]

I would like a mod that would award me the Knights Cross is I sunk something exceptional. Even if It's my first patrol.

Like a Battleship or Carrier.

[RoaldLarsen]

I should have made my question more specific.

Did you ever figure out the meaning of the SCORE lines in Basic.cfg that relate to promotion? You had determined that they did not correspond to current reknown.

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by RoaldLarsen

I should have made my question more specific.

Did you ever figure out the meaning of the SCORE lines in Basic.cfg that relate to promotion? You had determined that they did not correspond to current reknown.

Honestly, I never looked into it further, but I don't think it was promotion in rank that I was questioning but the awarding of medals. I was getting awarded stuff before my renown had reached the amount specified in the basic.cfg, so I wasn't sure how my SCORE was being calculated if indeed SCORE for those lines referred only to renown and not something else.

[danzig70]

Im trying to add a custom medal. If I find out the answer to the score question I'll post it here.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

My last patrol, my first in U-2503 (Type XXI), was...meh. Managed to get 28,696 tons, and that was only thanks to two or three Liberty ships. I don't usually bother with convoys; try and get ships sailing alone or in twos or threes.

I installed the various ocean liner mods, but haven't seen them in the game once! I'm thinking about trying for Liverpool in an effort to get Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth...scheiße, I haven't even sighted a light cruiser yet, and it's July 1944!

-Kommodore Kurt Hossel, U-2503
1,016,032 tons sunk
Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds
German Cross in Gold
U-Boat Badge with Diamonds
U-Boat Clasp in Bronze

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by RoaldLarsen

I should have made my question more specific.

Did you ever figure out the meaning of the SCORE lines in Basic.cfg that relate to promotion? You had determined that they did not correspond to current reknown.

The value you put in is the amount of renown required for an individual patrol needed to get a promotion, default it 500. Get 2000 renown and you get the max of 4, can always change that to something higher to slow the progress of your crews advancement. Here's a copy of the stuff in the basic.cfg and have commented on what each (relevant) thing means or how to change it:

[PLAYER_RENOWN]
AcademyBonus=1000
RankLevel0=500; SCORE
RankLevel1=1999; SCORE # minimum renown required for each promotional step
RankLevel2=3999; SCORE
RankLevel3=7999; SCORE
MedalScore0=2000;2 class, SCORE
MedalScore1=4000;1 class, SCORE
MedalScore2=10000; knight, SCORE
MedalScore3=25000; oak leaves, SCORE
MedalScore4=50000;swords, SCORE
MedalScore5=80000;diamonds, SCORE
MedalScore6=160000;all, SCORE #This was only awarded to 1 person ever (Hans Udel, Stuka Ace). If you look at his career and his accomplishments you'll quickly see that this medal really has no place in the game, or you need to have earned a extremely large amount of renown light years above and beyond the normal call of duty to get thi.

RankLevel4=15999; SCORE
RankLevel6=31999; SCORE #Need to make other mods for these next work, allows you to put in the correct rank progression instead of the games max default which is sorely wrong.

RankLevel7=63999; SCORE
RankLevel8=127999; SCORE
RankLevel9=255999; SCORE

[MEDALS_CREW]
RenownStep=250; RENOWN, u-boat badge how much renown you earn in a single partrol determines how many badges you can hand out.
SunkInPatrol=280000; TONNAGE, front clasp #if you want to make sure this doesn't come out before 44 put it at a high number, then manually change it to something like 60000-80000 when it actually became available
RenownStep2ndClass=20000; TONNAGE, IC 2nd
SunkInPatrol1stClass=30000; TONNAGE, IC 1st
SunkInPatrolGerman=60000; TONNAGE, GC
SunkInPatrolKnights=150000; TONNAGE, KC #Only a handful of crewmember ever earned a RK before becoming a captain, these shouldn't be handed out so easily. Personally I only use SHC when I feel that a crew member has done something to earn one rather than just being given one ingame.

[PROMOTIONS] #the amount of renown required for each patrol to earn a promotion
RenownStep0=500 #amount needed for the first promotion
RenownStep1=1000 #amount needed for the second
RenownStep2=1500
RenownStep3=2000 # if you prefer you can increase the amounts for each successive promotion such that you get promotions at a faster or slower rate.

If you wanted to be more martial you might have it look like such:
RenownStep0=500
RenownStep1=1500
RenownStep2=3000
RenownStep3=5000

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by ijnfleetadmiral

I thought the ranks for the game were as follows:

Seaman
Senior Seaman
Chief Seaman
Warrant Officer
Senior Warrant Officer
Chief Senior Warrant Officer
Sub-Lieutenant
Lieutenant Jr.
Lieutenant Sr.

However, after my last patrol, I was promoted Lieutenant Commander. Has anyone gone higher than this? What's the highest rank in the game without any mods or the like?

-Matt

160=Matrosengefreiter
161=Matrosenobergefreiter
162=Matrosenhauptgefreiter
163=Bootsmann
164=Stabsbootsmann
165=Stabsoberbootsmann
166=Oberfähnrich z. S.
167=Leutnant z. S.
168=Oberleutnant z. S.
169=Oberleutnant z. S.
170=Leutnant z. S.; Oberleutnant z. S.
171=Oberleutnant z. S.; Kapitänleutnant
172=Kapitänleutnant; Korvettenkapitän
173=Korvettenkapitän; Fregattenkapitän
174=Fregattenkapitän; Kapitän z. S.

You can add the 4th rank....see below:

[PLAYER_RENOWN]
AcademyBonus=1000
RankLevel0=0; SCORE
RankLevel1=1499; SCORE
RankLevel2=7999; SCORE
RankLevel3=14999; SCORE
RankLevel4=29999; SCORE

[ijnfleetadmiral]

Where do you add it at? Wish there was a way to promote NCOs to officers and enlisted to NCO...my Sonar Operator and my Engineering NCO sure deserve commissions, and my senior sonar operator deserves to be an NCO!

-Matt

[Draka]

Only way I know of to go from enlisted to PO, or PO to Officer is by editing the crew_config files directly.

[desirableroasted]

Originally Posted by ijnfleetadmiral

my senior sonar operator deserves to be an NCO!

-Matt

If he is going to do you any good in the sonar room, he has to be an NCO... sailor qualifications don't affect efficiency.

[Draka]

Correct - you can through SH3Cmdr or direct editing of the files give Quals to enlisted, and they will show in the crew management screen, but it is eye candy. I use them to place the appropriate personnel in the appropriate compartment for historical/RPG reasons, but the game engine ignores them completely.

[Tessa]

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

AFAIK there is no way to add additional medals into the game, if anyone knows otherwise feel free to elaborate on how this is done.

Correct, I have spent more hours than I want to remember trying every single permutation to make changes to the awards. It might be possible (haven't had the time to try, would take a lot of photoshop work and subsequent pixel mapping) to remove an award and put something else in its place.

I've been wanting to expand the medal box so that it would include the Honor Roll, German Grand Order, Order of the Red Eagle, Grand Cross with Diamonds, and correct the close combat clasp to have bronze and silver (THERE WAS NO GOLD VERSION EVER AWARDED OR EVEN MADE! If pissed me off that when I look at places that sell reproductions that they all have the combat clasps in bronze, silver and gold (or sometimes just gold).

Originally Posted by frau kaleun

I can see why adding the U-Boat Front Clasp in silver would be an interesting idea, at least from what I know of it... even though very few men would've lasted long enough to merit getting it. In RL very few of them appear to have been awarded either version when compared to the number of ICs (and its various "upgrades") that were awarded. Just getting the bronze version probably took a lot - it seems to have been a decoration for extended or unusually exemplary performance in combat. It wasn't even introduced until 1944 (bronze in May, and silver in November).

According to uboat.net, the German Cross in silver was only awarded to non-combatants - combatants would receive it in gold if the award was merited at all. So adding that as a possible decoration for a combat commander would not be historically accurate anyway.

IIRC the only person awarded the Grand Cross after its reinstitution in 1939 was Herman Göring, in recognition (ostensibly) of the outstanding performance of the Luftwaffe during the German offensives up to and including the successful occupation of France. Considering that he was also awarded a special rank at that time, one created just for him so he could outrank pretty much everyone else in the Wehrmacht, it seems unlikely that a comparatively low-ranking u-boat commander would ever get his own Grand Cross. I think the award itself was originally intended only for the most successful generals (or high-ranking leaders) of the German military and its various branches.

According to Wikipedia, the Star was only awarded twice in its entire history - once to some guy who led German armies to victory over Napoleon, and then to Paul von Hindenburg in WWI. In other words: not an award that would be handed out for anything other than leadership, service, and/or success at the very highest level. When it was reinstituted in 1939, it was only to be awarded after Germany won the war and then to only one man, her most successful general of the entire conflict.

Obviously there was no victory and it was never awarded. In terms of historical accuracy, there would be zero chance of a u-boat commander ever getting this blingy pinned to his uniform.

Goering was a medal whore, he always insisted on getting any medal/badge (and made special for him usually in diamonds) even if he had absolutely nothing to do with it. He got a u-boat badge in diamonds despite having done absolutely nothing to warrant even consideration for the basic badge!

If the Medal triggers could be unlocked, or the SDK released there are a lot of cool things that could be added like the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross, Order of the Red Eagle (have one of those (the imperial pre-WWI type) and its one of the most gorgeous Orders I've seen, the Honor Roll Clasp (was put on the uniform in place of the EK2, but was distinct as it had the clasp on the ribbon), Grand Cross with Diamonds, the Narvik shield and some others. Its easy to change the settings for the renown on when to award a medal but impossible to make other changes (like not allowing the Oak Leaves become available till 6/40).