I have a level 36 1/2 support crew on my M Pro right now, with the BO at 38 and gunners at 37 1/2. I have a restorer, repairer, and engineer onboard (engineer is only lvl 18 though). Should I revert back to a Z99 for a bit to train some support crew? Especially my engineer?

As a level 73 German player, I have some idea of what support is good. My current configuration is 2 restorers, 2 repairers, 1 engineer, and 1 seaman. Of the three, the two that are probably more important are the restorers, followed by the repairers, and then the engineer. I'm not really sure how much of a difference the seaman makes.

The fact is that soft defense makes you much harder to kill. My O Project has a base of 21600 dp or so. With 500 soft defense, it usually takes more like 35000 damage to kill me. If I had 650 soft defense (which would be the case if I had another restorer) I would most likely require 40000-45000 damage to die. Not to mention that a high SD keeps you at high DP through this, meaning you are fully mobile.

If you don't have a high SD your repairers won't help you much. You still take damage, and your SD will kick in, but it will take a long time to burn down to the point that you can start repairing. The more SD you have the faster you burn, and then you can start repairing.

As for engineers; I've never really noticed that large a difference from using them. My level 65 engineer boosts my max overheat by 1, and allows me to do it for longer, but it's just not as important (in my view) as having a good SD.

So personally, I would recommend you use 3 restorers, 2 repairers, and an engineer. Or at least plan on getting that many.

I'm using 2 Eng and 1 Repair at the moment cause as a KM player i'm ranging everyone and when DDs decided to bum rush me. I can overheat and sprint out or get some distance between me and the DDs so i can keep out of their gun range and pound away at them. But then again thats my style of playing cause as a CL 2 I don't like to sink..... IT COST MONEY...lol But yea... Germans have one of the best Engine Crew and speed is your friend as a KM player.

Heehee, I know how you feel. Took me 2 months to get around that level...now if I worked hard, I could do it in two days. Blergh!

I'm quite new, so I dunno what im doing. lol

Sounds like you're not leveling him very fast.

Or you're MWing a low level sailor.

Both are bad. Pick your poison ;).

My level 26 Support man has over 50 Experts and 30 vets and round 100 rookies so he isn't doing so bad.

At level 23 your support crew will do jack. Not enough experts/vets.

When you hit around level 40 you'll start to notice stuff. Level 50ish is when they really start to shine.

If you're still worried about torps, then chances are you're level 40>, which means your support crew isn't doing much. When you get to BB level repair and restore (Soft defense) means a lot.

As for now, that setup is pretty good. But keep in mind that new ships will have more slots, which means more support sailors. I advise leveling up enough support sailors to use in your CA. The number depends on whether or not you want an AA crew. Also keep in mind that you'll need a rookie pilot (scouter) for your CA.

But remember that low levels (30>) level poorly in CAs. You have to alternate your new support crew with your old one. Your support crew will fall behind a few levels (sometimes quite a few) behind your BO and gunners, who will stay on at all times, but it's worth it in the end.

I would like Engineers more than anything 90% of the time you don't last long enough in a fight and I rather have the longer overheat time on the engines to help run away from ships that outrange me and dodging torpedoes. When you get killed its almost always right out, with torps or heavly damages you can't run away and just don't have the time for repairs.