Building a crew for a career

[CameramanDavid]

I understand the numerical ratings (Command, Electrical, Mechanical, Guns, Watch)... clearly you want Torpedomen in the Fore and Aft Torpedo Rooms, and Watchmen in Deck Division, Electricians in the Conn, Gunners on the Deck and AA Guns and Machinist Mates in Engines... but what about Damage Control and Dive Control?

but I have a couple questions...

1) What are the most desirable skills for the Control Room or Damage Control? Do you want a mix of Mechanical and Electrical in DC? and if so, do we want at least 1 Torpedoman on the Damage Control Crew, or are we not getting that specific?


2) Which is more important, the rating symbol, or the numerical rating?
For example... you have a sailor with a good Quartermaster (Command) rating, but they have a VERY HIGH Mechanical (higher than Command) rating...

3) I see that numerical ratings increase when you assign a rating to a new 3rd class Petty officer (as they should), but Command rating never seems to increase if you select that as their rating.

4) When you see a Chief (or Officer) that has a Special ability, what if they are in a different compartment than what it would normally apply to...?
(for example: Chief in the Deck Division with a really high "Watch" rating" gets a "Increased Torpedo Damage" Ability... is it being wasted if I don't move him to one of the Torpedo rooms...?? And if this is the case, wouldn't a lower Guns/Torpedoes rating drag down that compartment if I moved him?)

Bonus Question: Why are there Senior Chiefs and Master Chiefs in the game, when they didn't exist in real life until 1958...??

[Moonlight]

I don't bother with the ratings or the officers either, nothing you do to them increases their ability to perform any better, unless of course you get a Special ability man, those men are programmed in the .exe to perform better, put them in the required compartments and activate them if they need to be activated.

[Bubblehead1980]

Originally Posted by CameramanDavid

I understand the numerical ratings (Command, Electrical, Mechanical, Guns, Watch)... clearly you want Torpedomen in the Fore and Aft Torpedo Rooms, and Watchmen in Deck Division, Electricians in the Conn, Gunners on the Deck and AA Guns and Machinist Mates in Engines... but what about Damage Control and Dive Control?

but I have a couple questions...

1) What are the most desirable skills for the Control Room or Damage Control? Do you want a mix of Mechanical and Electrical in DC? and if so, do we want at least 1 Torpedoman on the Damage Control Crew, or are we not getting that specific?


2) Which is more important, the rating symbol, or the numerical rating?
For example... you have a sailor with a good Quartermaster (Command) rating, but they have a VERY HIGH Mechanical (higher than Command) rating...

3) I see that numerical ratings increase when you assign a rating to a new 3rd class Petty officer (as they should), but Command rating never seems to increase if you select that as their rating.

4) When you see a Chief (or Officer) that has a Special ability, what if they are in a different compartment than what it would normally apply to...?
(for example: Chief in the Deck Division with a really high "Watch" rating" gets a "Increased Torpedo Damage" Ability... is it being wasted if I don't move him to one of the Torpedo rooms...?? And if this is the case, wouldn't a lower Guns/Torpedoes rating drag down that compartment if I moved him?)

Bonus Question: Why are there Senior Chiefs and Master Chiefs in the game, when they didn't exist in real life until 1958...??

Game is odd as the skill sets do not matter in most of the boat on regular watch but it does in some places and especially at GQ . Control wise: When I have a Gato, have six officers...the OOD is on the deck watch, AOOD in conning tower, chief down below at diving station, two guys on the planes in the control room watch. When need to dive, the AOOD drops down to take over the dive, the OOD into conning tower, the lookouts take over the dive planes. This is how most boats handled it in Gato class in reality. Tambors and Gar's started doing the same once carried enough officers after early part of war. The boat will dive at the time set in its file unless have the special ability guy aboard so does not matter who is the diving officer or on the planes, then you get the 30-45 second dive time most Gato, Balao etc had during the war.

Now, at GQ, for DC party..when activated you want to move those with ratings high in the mech and electrical fields. Leading you want an officer with high leadership plus some mech ability, then a CPO or two. I do not keep the DC slots manned at all times as it looks silly. DC parties were pulled from the crew for serious damage. Most damage can be repaired by those in the compartment but DC party is needed for flooding and priority repairs. If you get the master engineer..the one who makes water pump out at a reasonable time and does not take 5 hours to stop a leak lol. I've modified the game to make it where his ability is only active when placed in the DC slot, it stops the magic healing boatwide, I use him for emergency repairs only.

Gunnery is affected by the skill and experience of those manning the guns as well. I typically put an officer with high gunnery skills(usually those with the watchman qualification) in the lead of the deck gun (typically an Ensign or JG) and then a chief with high gunnery skills, usually has a torpedoman rating. Then my 1c PO etc. When I promote the non rated guys, I assign many the gunnery rating so as they gain experience, will be great for the gunnery slots at GQ, Otherwise they are typically lookouts or in torpedo room or control room watch when on surface.


There are Senior and Master Chiefs because UBI was lazy in much of their research and its application in creating SH 4 . I have eliminated those ranks in my install and will be eliminated in my forthcoming TMO upgrade.