Prestige Costs of Sacking Commanders

[Kriegsspieler]

Can someone explain to me why the supposed costs in prestige that comes from sacking commanders doesn't seem to be applied consistently? Sometimes I see a one or even a two-point reduction, but often I don't see any penalty at all. Is this a bug, or is it based on a calculation that is too subtle and complicated for my dull, analog mind?

[asdfzxc922]

The "well-connected" and "no connections" traits raise and lower the cost of reassigning commanders, respectively.

[Enderminion]

Other times dismissing an ordinary commander costs 12 prestige

[leisen]

Probably not directly related to this post but I wish the prestige cost can be replaced by something like temporary crew quality loss. I never engage in officer system because everything I might want to do like replacing imcompetent officers or specializing a formation cost prestige.

[director]

To be more realistic, officers would need to be rotated to different assignments about every 4 to 6 years. This should be done automatically based on ability and time-in-grade, with the player being able to reassign officers with a prestige loss.

Honestly, when I move an officer from a ship to a newer or better ship, I don't think I should have to pay a prestige cost - and in fact, I can't tell if I do. Certainly I'm not asked.

Would also be nice to be able to assign an officer to a DD squadron from the officer page.

[Kriegsspieler]

This is all nice, but at the very least I would like to see the prestige penalty be applied more consistently than it is now. Other changes can come later.

[blarglol]

Jun 13, 2023 0:11:43 GMT -6 Enderminion said:

Other times dismissing an ordinary commander costs 12 prestige

I have never seen that...how?

[Kriegsspieler]

I have never sen anything close to that. I believe the most I have seen is 2 points for sacking a senior admiral who is well connected.

[buttons]

Jun 13, 2023 8:28:33 GMT -6 Kriegsspieler said:

I have never sen anything close to that. I believe the most I have seen is 2 points for sacking a senior admiral who is well connected.

I think prestige hits in that case should be bigger. I think fleet morale in general should also be more impactful. Would be nice if sacking incompetent officers could raise morale and sacking competent officers could lower morale and in general making the political (as opposed to diplomatic) sphere of the game more impactful. Maybe even have an event like “The Secretary of the Navy stated that he believes [Well-Connected Officer] is overdue for a promotion”
With responses being
*After looking into it I believe [Well-Connected Officer] is overdue for a promotion (+prestige, +budget, officer promoted)
*Unfortunately we have other officers in line before him due to experience and seniority (-prestige)
*I refuse to promote based on nepotistic connections (- - prestige, decrease corruption, +morale?)

I’ve also noticed officers who reture can become captains of industry. Would be neat to have events about individuals, maybe offering you deals on hardware, tech boosts, or pressure you to buy their inferior products based on past connections.

[director]

Or perhaps sacking a 'below average' or 'incompetent' officer should raise your prestige, unless that officer is well-connected?

Anyway, paying out prestige points is painful when you've only got 20 or 30 and there are not many ways to regain prestige.


One suggestion: I can see age (assuming that's time in grade or time of service?) in the Officers window but not when using Assign New Commander. Perhaps just use same window for all?

Still cannot use Officers window to select Destroyer Division commander (just noticed the Divisions are at the very bottom of the list, but when they need a commander they are not listed at the top as ships and other divisions are).

Also, just had a case where a ship had no commander. I selected 'Send commander ashore' instead of 'Assign new commander' and lost prestige points.

[blarglol]

Jun 24, 2023 10:31:04 GMT -6 director said:

Also, just had a case where a ship had no commander. I selected 'Send commander ashore' instead of 'Assign new commander' and lost prestige points.

That prestige loss is on removing the officer from a ship. It isn't tied to someone physically replacing him. So a replacement arriving or not has no bearing on the removal of the previous CO causing a loss.

[director]

@blargol - yes, but there was no commander of that ship and hence no-one to send ashore. Therefore I don't think I should have been penalized since there was no person to send ashore. The option should either be grayed out in that case or the deduction avoided.

[voelfgar]

Along similar lines, when managing officers and you promote the senior officer of a particular rank, you still suffer a prestige hit because you promoted someone less senior. Which makes zero sense.

[hawkeye]

Jun 26, 2023 0:14:41 GMT -6 director said:

@blargol - yes, but there was no commander of that ship and hence no-one to send ashore. Therefore I don't think I should have been penalized since there was no person to send ashore. The option should either be grayed out in that case or the deduction avoided.

First, yes, I realize this is kind of a necro, but I think this thread deserves to be brought up again.

Second, I totally agree.
Just imagine this:

Rear Admiral Kraft looked up as Kapitän Holzmann, commander of the old Armored Cruiser SMS Freya entered his office: "Kapitän Holzmann, as you know, our very first battlecruiser, SMS Von der Tann will enter service within the next three weeks...and I want you to take command of the ship."

With a cold look, Kapitän Holzmann saluted: "Aye, aye, Admiral", he said, visibly - and unsuccessfully - fighting his anger from showing.

"Kapitän, is something wrong?" the Admiral asked.

"Permission to speak freely," he requested.
"Permission granted."
"I have been commander of the Freya for 8 years now, it's an old rust-bucket, it's engine is worn out to the point it can barely achieve 18 knots, it's firecontrols are antiquated and the armor is three generations behind...and giving me a brand new, faster, larger and much more powerful ship to command is a grave insult, I challenge you to a duel!"

Yeah, that would most certainly happen [rolls eyes]

Now don't get me wrong, if I'd transfer the commander of the Petropavlovsk to the Kamchatka in 1906, yeah, some serious backlash would to be expected, but putting a commander on a better ship most definitely shouldn't cost prestige.

How to _define_ a better ship would be tricky, though, I admit, so here are some criteria I could come up with on the fly:
Year of commission can't be older than the previous ship
The new command can not be smaller than the old one
The class of the new command can't be "lower" than the old one (so you can go from a CL to a CA but not vice versa)
Let's say, at least two of those criteria have to be true and no loss of prestige would occur, so you could go from and old, 6500 ton CA to a new 8000 ton CL or you could go from a 6500 ton CL to a slightly older 10,000 ton CA

[director]

I often move good officers from older ships to new ones - new ships which have no commanding officer - and I have not seen a prestige loss. Perhaps I'm just not looking for it.


The new 'Area' function is a royal PITA. It demands I assign officers to areas, won't let me assign officers to any area except the areas that already have admirals, and EVEN WHEN I SAY 'Yes, assign all automatically' it does not assign any officers... and then, next turn, tells me I have vacancies and demands I fill them.