Solved Officers on fleet ships and morale

[Fluen]

I play a game, in which I'm a castaway, who tries to better her life through trading and fetch-quests. By now I've earned enough gold to buy a second ship and hire officers to sail it. But the morale on my second ship is constantly low or worse (have had two quenched mutinies so far). This leads to the following questions:

1. What type of officer is most suited to become the captain? I've noticed the commanding officer changes type from their original type to captain, and this might leave their usual skillset behind to assume the one needed for a captain. I've made the gunner become the captain, because his original skillset is part of a captain's skillset.

2. What other factors about an officer may influence the morale of the crew?
The officers aboard the second ship all have experience to command a ship of tier 6, while the ship they command is tier 7. Only one has a fairly good reputation (bloke), and the three others have the reputations: rascal, swindler and bloody terror. Only the captain has the skill iron will, must the other officers also have it?

3. I believe the leadership skill is of importance to officers. But I've only tried to raise the captain's leadership with one point by giving him an object, which should do that. How high a leadership skill must the officers have?

 

[Grey Roger]

What is your reputation? If you are on the good side of the spectrum (Bloke/Lass, Matey/Maiden, etc.) and the officer is on the evil side (Rascal/Floozy, Swindler/Vixen, etc.), or if you're on the evil side and the officer is on the good side, then the officer will try to spark a mutiny by dropping morale. Neutral/Damsel is always safe. So, if your own reputation is good, make sure that Bloke is the one in command.

How much gold do you have, and do you have any Letters of Marque? Or have you been branded a pirate? If you have more than 1,000,000 and you're either a pirate or have a Letter of Marque, the crew will become envious and you'll need to switch payment to dividing plunder - they're risking their lives and want a share of the profit! But if this is the case, you should have received a warning about this - look in your questbook for an entry named "Crew Affairs".

Navigators make good captains because they'll be learning the "Sailing" skill while they're officers on your ship. First Mates can also be good because they'll be learning Leadership. As with your own character, the combination of "Leadership" and "Sailing" determine the size of ship which the officer can command efficiently. But that shouldn't affect morale or cause mutinies, it just means that if the officer has been assigned to command too large a ship, there will be penalties to "Leadership" and "Sailing" which will reduce the ship's effectiveness.

 

[Fluen]

What is your reputation? If you are on the good side of the spectrum (Bloke/Lass, Matey/Maiden, etc.) and the officer is on the evil side (Rascal/Floozy, Swindler/Vixen, etc.), or if you're on the evil side and the officer is on the good side, then the officer will try to spark a mutiny by dropping morale. Neutral/Damsel is always safe. So, if your own reputation is good, make sure that Bloke is the one in command.

That explains it. My reputation is heroine and the captain's is swindler. None of the other criteria match.

But I'm still annoyed about the changes in skillset, when an officer takes the role as captain. As far as I'm any judge, a ship needs a navigator, a gunner, a carpenter and a surgeon to be able to succesfully sail, defend itself, repair damages and preserve the crew. So the change in skillset does cause trouble. I noticed this, when I in another game made Peter Blood (surgeon) captain of one of my ships, and the ability to heal the crew vanished aboard his ship.

 

[Grey Roger]

If Peter Blood is commanding the ship then he has no time to visit the sickbay and tend wounded crew. Neither do you, which is why you need a surgeon to get the best healing effects regardless of your own "Defence" skill. Your companion ships, like your own, will be more efficient if they have secondary officers dedicated to their jobs.

 

[Lone Fennec]

If Peter Blood is commanding the ship then he has no time to visit the sickbay and tend wounded crew. Neither do you, which is why you need a surgeon to get the best healing effects regardless of your own "Defence" skill. Your companion ships, like your own, will be more efficient if they have secondary officers dedicated to their jobs.

is there a way to give more than 3 officers to my captains ships?
I have a 5th rate ship, and I gave the captain, a gunner, navigator, and first mate. is there a way to give him other companions? like surgeon, carpenter, master of arms...etc

 

[Cannon_Ball]

that I know not unless ... you can assign your officers only one role so that they grow experience on that role, then once you reach the maximum for that category, you can reverse to make them change roles and gain experience on the new role assigned..and so on..cmq it doesn't make sense, besides being long you first give each officer his ground on the ship and help him grow x that role ..

 

[Grey Roger]

is there a way to give more than 3 officers to my captains ships?
I have a 5th rate ship, and I gave the captain, a gunner, navigator, and first mate. is there a way to give him other companions? like surgeon, carpenter, master of arms...etc

No, there are only three additional officer slots.

You don't need a separate navigator as the officer you assign should already be a navigator before he's assigned as a captain. You don't need a master at arms or boatswain because companion ships can't board enemy ships. The first mate is a useful general assistant to the player but of little use on a companion ship. So you really only need gunner, carpenter and surgeon. Those are your three.

 

[Lone Fennec]

No, there are only three additional officer slots.

You don't need a separate navigator as the officer you assign should already be a navigator before he's assigned as a captain. You don't need a master at arms or boatswain because companion ships can't board enemy ships. The first mate is a useful general assistant to the player but of little use on a companion ship. So you really only need gunner, carpenter and surgeon. Those are your three.

Ah I didn't know that, I thought since there is the ability to send your ship to board ports and forts that it was possible with ships.
Great to know that I only need those three, will make managing my fleet better.