CUEmu - Thread Posts

jfang

Mon Jun 07, 2004 7:18 am

I did a quick search for this idea posting, but didn't see anything related. It might have been discussed before, as I believe it has been noted in the Combat Medic and Doctor forums (although I'm not sure).

Ignoring technical implementation difficulties, it seems to me that a medic should have a fairly substantial effect on the mission difficulty of the missions that a group can get. A novice medic with some decent (not exceptionally great mind you) stim B's will have much more of an impact on a small/medium group than a 0044 marksman, or even a low novice rifleman, simply by keeping other party members on their feet and spamming specials. This is becomes more true the stronger the group is overall (because HAM costs become a larger percentage of damage taken, and damage done by an individual becomes a smaller percentage).

It seems to me that if a novice medic could somehow have a fairly substantial effect on the mission difficulty, it might encourage the invitation of medics to a group simply for the purpose of increasing mission difficulties and payouts. The medicscould then tag along with party members to heal them, not to mention get much needed money from the mission payouts.

The trick would be that a medic would need to act as a multiplier to the mission difficulty, rather than adding. (Three pure medics are not much better than one, but a medic and two pistoleers is much stronger than just two pistoleers.) However, there would need to be a cap on the effect (one medic can not adequatelyheal 19 carbineers, no matter how much the party tries). It would also need to be balanced very carefully, lest low level parties find themselves in over their heads.

In practice, with the advent of +400 strength stim B's and everybody having novice medic, it would probably not work (read: *lots* of balancing and testing would be needed), but in theory it seemed like a good idea...

MasterNerfSlayer

Mon Jun 07, 2004 8:05 am

#2

It's a nice idea, but I feel that by taking a medic along, you should be gaining an advantage, not having the system adjust to suit. After all, that is why you're taking a medic in the first place...

But other than that, the HAM system is changing as well, meaning that medics will only heal damage taken because the specials bar wont be healable.

Still, I like out of the box thinking. Keep it up!

RETIRED DOCTOR & MEDIC CORRESPONDENT
Imperial Colonel Kiveryn [Commando / Carbineer] Starsider [Black Epsilon]
Imperial Leiutenant Kirrilee [Dark Jedi Knight] Starsider [Imperial Inquisition]
Unlocked April 1st, 2004

jfang

Mon Jun 07, 2004 8:44 am

#3

I'm not clear what you mean by "you should be gaining an advantage, not having the system adjust to suit". Currently in the framework (for better or worse) players are *much* stronger than the missions they get, which is why people pull out AT-STs when getting missions then put them away. They don't really need an advantage against the mission difficulties they get. (If they really needed it, they would buy a weak flamethrower, scatter pistol, or other weapon not qualified for and equip it when getting missions.)

I agree that a medic should make the party stronger. This is why the mission difficulties should be higher, to reflect this. (As it stands now, if a novice medic joins the party, overall strength of the party for missions actually goes down, I believe, incurring a penality for a high ranked party to invite a medic.)

Even when the HAM costs change, this would still be applicable, albeit to a lesser degree. A rifleman who can bring a dependable medic along can concentrate on attacking rather than worrying about healing himself or herself, and can save some action/mind points (and a lot of time) by letting somebody else do the healing, and thus get a few more special attacks done.

A potentially easy wayto implement this would be to have everybody with medic count as the strongest unaccounted for combatant, unless he or she has comparable or stronger combat skills. So for the purpose of mission difficulty, a party of a three medics, a novice pistoleer/medic, and a master pistoleer might count instead as a medic, two novice pistoleers, and two master pistoleer. The argument is that a single medic can at least keep one person healed, so should count as the highest un-healed person. (If you want to get really fancy, a combat medic with area and ranged heals might count as the top two or three people...)

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