some questions

[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.

7: As stated, Fore reserves were stowed below the decking, and extra reserves above (hung from the overhead, or braced on the deck).

Late war, the extra reserves were no longer carried on Type VIICs.

On torpedo types. The T1 was the better torpedo, IMO. It had much better range, 3 speed settings, and low maintenance requirements.
On the down side is the bubble trail, which should only be visible when evasion is no longer possible. But the main problem with the T1, was that it did not lend itself well with the mass production required to supply an ever growing need for torpedoes. (Quality over quantity).

Although I prefer the T1, I force myself to carry a majority of electrics.
Whether or not the T1 is superior is debatable.
That the number available was limited, is not.

[sektor2006]

Hi everyone. I want to ask my share of questions and I don't want to start a new topic so here I go... I play SH3 with no mods whatsoever.

I currently command a Type VIIB boat. But I can't figure out a few things so I need help:

1. Okay, I go to my Chief Engineer - the guy that tells me the levels of CO2 in the boat, fuel left, battery energy and so on. But what is this compressed air thing and what does it do?

2. Also, the radio and sonar men. I put someone there, I ask him to sweep the area or do smth else and nothing happens. Obviously I am doing something wrong but what? To me right now these two positions are useless...

3. Also, can I personally choose the types of torpedoes to carry... I don't really like the electrics the put on the boat.

I'll be looking forward to your responses and thank you very much!

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by sektor2006

Hi everyone. I want to ask my share of questions and I don't want to start a new topic so here I go... I play SH3 with no mods whatsoever.

I currently command a Type VIIB boat. But I can't figure out a few things so I need help:

1. Okay, I go to my Chief Engineer - the guy that tells me the levels of CO2 in the boat, fuel left, battery energy and so on. But what is this compressed air thing and what does it do?

I believe the compressed air is what you would use to blow the tanks if you needed to do that in order to raise the boat in the water. In the game I think it only happens if you order an emergency surface (if you've seen "Das Boot," that would be when they yell "ANBLASEN!") but in real life I don't know if they were used routinely for trimming/raising the boat or other things.

2. Also, the radio and sonar men. I put someone there, I ask him to sweep the area or do smth else and nothing happens. Obviously I am doing something wrong but what? To me right now these two positions are useless...

I haven't played stock much so I don't know what commands are "available" but might be useless in certain situations. Are you surfaced or submerged? Your hydrophones (sonar) will only work submerged. I'm not even sure what you can order the radio man to do, usually my only "contact" with him is when he interrupts things to tell me we have a new message. Oh, and to send out patrol or contact reports, but I'm pretty sure you can only do that when surfaced. Did you mean radio or radar? The boats don't have radar until later on in the war and I haven't played that far yet so for that, I got nothin'.

3. Also, can I personally choose the types of torpedoes to carry... I don't really like the electrics the put on the boat.

Again this is one of those things that I'm unfamiliar with in the stock game, but if you *can* change your loadout before starting a patrol I can tell you where to find the options. In the "office" screen, if you move the mouse around over the decks and filing cabinets and whatnot, you should find one spot that will popup the message 'U-Boat" and if you click on it that will take you to the screen where you can look at what equipment your boat has and what is available for upgrades and changes. That would be where you change your ammo loadout if changes are possible.