Tips about A.I. management in single player

[thecarlocarlone]

So I tried playing online, but because of my lag, I kept crashing.

I wanted to try the game offline, at least I can understand what I'm doing and why, however the AI is hell. It's not bad, but I can't seem to manage them, especially when there is an emergency.


I know that I have to give them orders, but I can't run around doing things AND babysit.
I ask them to repair, but the order only repairs mechanical stuff for example.

How can I make them more "free"?

I mean, I would want the engineer to run around doing repairs, not standing still in water doing nothing because a hull breach is not exactly what I asked him to repair.

if not, is there an easier way to give orders? because the wheel menu isn't exactly easy, especially when there is an emergency.
This may also help me in multyplayer, since my microphone doesn't work.

[198xAD]

You can use the hotkeys and memorize the orders. Otherwise, use custom macro keys if your keyboard has them. I have a logitech G910 with all my common orders set to the 'G' keys.

Here's how I do it:

Hover mouse cursor over crewman. Press the appropriate G key.

For instance, a gunner or assistant, I hover over their name on the crew list, press G1 which fires the macro " ` 4 2 ". Then I simply pick what gun I want them to go to. I can set up a 12 man crew in a matter of seconds.

I reassigned my crew orders button from from middle mouse button to tilde. Sorry if that was confusing.


You can use "repair broken devices" as a general repair rule for both electricians and mechanics. They'll injure themselves a bit until their skill is up, but it's much easier for macro. Then all you have to worry about is putting the mechanics on leak repairs when the time is appropriate.

[FourGreenFields]

Chances are you don't want to run around much. Sitting on the sonar, steering the sub, and looking for hostiles (which is important early on; 2-3 bots are likely not enough to man every gun and keep the sub running) should keep you busy.

The crew list in the top-left memorises the previously-given order. So you can, e.g. tell the gunner to man one gun, then the other, and you can quickly change between them. Or tell the mechanic to fix leaks, then to repair broken devices (then he'll repair both mechanical and electrical devices).

My usual setup early on (Dugong, one hired assistant): Electrical engineer on the reactor, mechanical engineer repairing broken devices (and fixing leaks, as above), assistant manning guns. That should keep you mostly covered.