Crew suddenly developes undocumented third 'local ability.'

[DeePsix501]

From what I gathered on seeing this, the crewmember has worked in that certain compartment long enough that he has gained skill in an area. What I mean is, that if John Doe works in the Torpedo room long enough, he will gain a local ability for torpedoes. I guess this represents well trained crew members.

But that is just my hypothesis...

[SteamWake]

How can a crewmans skill make a torpedo faster ?

Maybe they mean reload times.

[Lukemb]

There are 7 local abilities

4 for the torpedo dept. and 3 for the engine dept.

Read the following for the details, it's copied and pasted from the game folder (UPCCrewdata)

N.B.
There are also 2 global abilities (Increase Fanatical Chance and Reduce Broken Chance)

************ Torpedo ************

[SpecialLocalAbility 1]
ID=LAbilTorpSpec1
NameDisplayable= Torpedo Crew Leader
AbilityType= SLA_ReduceTorpedoLoading
AbilityValue= -25 ;%
AbylityActsIn= SternTorpedoRoom, BowTorpedoRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0.4
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.5
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0
SkillRequiredGuns= 0.2
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[SpecialLocalAbility 2]
ID=LAbilTorpSpec2
NameDisplayable= Torpedo Detonators Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_ReduceTorpedoMalfunctions
AbilityValue= -50 ;%
AbylityActsIn= SternTorpedoRoom, BowTorpedoRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.6
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.2
SkillRequiredGuns= 0.6
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[SpecialLocalAbility 3]
ID=LAbilTorpSpec3
NameDisplayable= Torpedo Engine Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_IncreaseTorpedoSpeed
AbilityValue= 20 ;%
AbylityActsIn= SternTorpedoRoom, BowTorpedoRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.6
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.4
SkillRequiredGuns= 0.2
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[SpecialLocalAbility 4]
ID=LAbilTorpSpec4
NameDisplayable= Torpedo Warhead Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_IncreaseTorpedoDamage
AbilityValue= 50 ;%
AbylityActsIn= SternTorpedoRoom, BowTorpedoRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.2
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.5
SkillRequiredGuns= 0.6
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0


************ Engine *************

[SpecialLocalAbility 5]
ID=LAbilEngineSpec1
NameDisplayable= Surface Propulsion Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_IncreaseSurfaceSpeed
AbilityValue= 20 ;%
AbylityActsIn= PropulsionRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.6
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.4
SkillRequiredGuns= 0
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[SpecialLocalAbility 6]
ID=LAbilEngineSpec2
NameDisplayable= Underwater Propulsion Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_IncreaseSubmergedSpeed
AbilityValue= 20 ;%
AbylityActsIn= PropulsionRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.4
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.6
SkillRequiredGuns= 0
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[SpecialLocalAbility 7]
ID=LAbilEngineSpec3
NameDisplayable= Propulsion Specialist
AbilityType= SLA_IncreaseOverallSpeed
AbilityValue= 200 ;%
AbylityActsIn= PropulsionRoom
Image=1
SkillRequiredLeadership= 0
SkillRequiredMechanical= 0.5
SkillRequiredElectrics= 0.5
SkillRequiredGuns= 0
SkillRequiredWatchman= 0

[davejb]

I REALLY hope that..

How can a crewmans skill make a torpedo faster ?

does mean reload speed - what with the 'fast' setting not actually delivering the correct torp speed the last thing needed is an extra boost

Assuming it's reload, and similar extras are in the game (not seen anything myself yet) then it's a nice little touch.... might even shave a second or two off a reload.

Odd... lost a lump...try again - from the post above by Luke it might well be making faster torps - hope the code includes a section to ensure this doesn't make 'em miss as a result of decreasing the travel time !

[-Pv-]

It could be the cross-training that occured was because those crew were in a compartment that isn't their prime ability for a while. Something to avoid if you want local abilities to make sense later on.
-Pv-

[razark]

Originally Posted by -Pv-

It could be the cross-training that occured was because those crew were in a compartment that isn't their prime ability for a while. Something to avoid if you want local abilities to make sense later on.
-Pv-

I don't know about that. One of my sensor guys in the conning tower seems to have learned to load torpedos faster. Just saw it last night, didn't make any sense. His ability and specialization is sensors, and he's never set foot in the torpedo room.

[Sailor Steve]

Maybe he studies in his spare time.

I know, that's no answer, but who knows what they programmed into the game?

[Sailor Steve]

I've been looking over those skills again, and some of them do seem odd:

ReduceTorpedoLoading: They load them faster. That's good.

ReduceTorpedoMalfunctions: Also a good thing.

IncreaseTorpedoSpeed: It does look like he can make it go faster, as loading times are already covered above. That doesn't make sense.

IncreaseTorpedoDamage: Maybe, but how? He packs in more torpex?

IncreaseSurfaceSpeed: This guy makes the engines function better than best? Not that I've ever heard of.

IncreaseSubmergedSpeed: Same thing, but with the motors.

IncreaseOverallSpeed: Same thing again, but he's so good he makes them both work better than they can.



It looks like they wanted to give unrealistic skills that would look cool; something like the 20-knot "superchargers" in SH3.

[JT1981]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

IncreaseSurfaceSpeed: This guy makes the engines function better than best? Not that I've ever heard of.

haha,maybe the CE put some alcohol into the engine,you will see it in the movie Das Boat!!

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I've been looking over those skills again, and some of them do seem odd:

...

It looks like they wanted to give unrealistic skills that would look cool; something like the 20-knot "superchargers" in SH3.

Easy enough to mod, thankfully.

[Immacolata]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

How can a crewmans skill make a torpedo faster ?

Maybe they mean reload times.

He winds up the propeller elastic band real tight?

[Tieg]

Now this local ability term...I suppose that means he has to be in the compartment to take advantage of it?

I have several of these local abilities but I have noticed for example I have a guy in the engineroom with increase torp loading skills....when I switch him with someone in the torp space my effectiveness in both spaces go down. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Kurev]

I don't know...

Increase load speed is ok, training makes you better.

Reduce torpedo malfunctions is ok too, if you take better care of them, they will work better.

But, the two other sound very arcadish. You just don't increase the speed or damage of a torpedo just like that, on board ship.

[davejb]

A couple of these make obvious sense, the more you drill the better you get. I have to agree about the 'arcadish' comment though - it's hard to see how you could increase the explosive effect, and a speed increase should mean your 'improvement' causes torps to miss ahead of the contact . This last point seems so outlandish that I have to assume it's doing nothing of the sort - as has been pointed out, we don't actually know what's in the game, so it could simply be that things were labelled with the first things that came to mind whilst the actual effects these skills have is applied to something else entirely (or has no effect at all).

[LukeFF]

Originally Posted by Kurev

Increase load speed is ok, training makes you better.

Reduce torpedo malfunctions is ok too, if you take better care of them, they will work better.

But, the two other sound very arcadish. You just don't increase the speed or damage of a torpedo just like that, on board ship.

Agreed. Might be a good mod idea to try to get rid of these last two "extra" skill modifiers. Increasing the damage on a torpedo warhead? Right, the sub's commander is just going to let some knuckledragger fool around with highly explosive material within the confines of a cramped submarine.