Where have the medics gone?

[Jesstreeter]

Not treating people and putting them in a stasis bag leads to the damage accumulating with cloning/genetics damage, which in turns causes them to die - and be unrevivable if severe enough.

My point was, that you're neglecting your sworn duty as a medic to treat people to the best of your ability and ensure their survival if you could do so.

I think you're vastly underestimating the extent to which combat medics are trained. They aren't just "Oh, is that guy bleeding? Let's wrap some gauze around it." It's much more in-depth and you're doing a much broader analysis of the possible impacts on the person's health.

You're not a "dumbass", you're a qualified individual who's had extensive medical training to ensure you don't fuck up and kill somebody - Because you very, very easily could if you fucked up most of the medical procedures that medics do on a whim.

Giving injections isn't easy - Although it's one of the easier things that a combat medic has to do.

You have to be aware of how pressure affects Human physiology and how best to support bones in terms of splints and medical gauze/trauma kits. Splints hurt like fuck, but they're supposed to. Leaving a splint on can actually cause damage beyond the initial damage (real life example here, but I'd assume RP-wise this also applies and is taught.)

Burn wounds aren't just magically "slap some cream on it." They need to be salved, wrapped to prevent infection and other things.

You state time and time again that this is an "RP game", but you fail to actually put yourself into the shoes of a *proper* MEDICALLY-TRAINED combat-ready Corpsman. You're there to care for your friends and squad mates to the best of your ability, and if that guy over there has a collapsed lung, I guarantee you to fuck that you will try your hardest to fix it so that this poor sod doesn't have to go home in a casket.

What you described is literally the laziest attempt at being a medic that I've ever read, and would be the equivelant of a sixteen year old making a checklist of "This is for burns, this is for bleeding, this is for pain - And this is for everything I can't be bothered to fix."

[Challenger]

The description on the wiki for stasis bags states, "Used to store critically injured patients, does cause genetic damage overtime though. Use with caution, as they can easily kill a marine inside of it. If they do die, they won't be able to be defibbed." So shouldn't you be using them on people who just took a load of damage, to prevent them from bleeding out and getting oxygen/organ damaged, or right after someone gets defibbed and given stabilizing drugs?

Someone with a collapsed lung should get whatever pills they need to survive to the medbay and no more. Doctors exist to actually fix them. Which is the point of triaging people to treat rather than cure them: you don't have the resources or ability, if you rp and just go with the default loadout, to bring people back from death into perfect combat form. Better to pass them on to the people who can.

[Sleepy Retard]

The description on the wiki for stasis bags states, "Used to store critically injured patients, does cause genetic damage overtime though. Use with caution, as they can easily kill a marine inside of it. If they do die, they won't be able to be defibbed." So shouldn't you be using them on people who just took a load of damage, to prevent them from bleeding out and getting oxygen/organ damaged, or right after someone gets defibbed and given stabilizing drugs?

Someone with a collapsed lung should get whatever pills they need to survive to the medbay and no more. Doctors exist to actually fix them. Which is the point of triaging people to treat rather than cure them: you don't have the resources or ability, if you rp and just go with the default loadout, to bring people back from death into perfect combat form. Better to pass them on to the people who can.

They cause people to die and then you can't defib them.

They're not good.

[Steelpoint]

Stasis bags should be removed, if you remain in one for a small amount of time, and then you die, you will be unrevivable. Its the worst feeling when you know you only have light injuries, yet a medic tosses you into a stasis bag only for you to die of genetic damage and be removed from the round forever (as that marine anyway).

My point stands from earlier, the Medical Prep Vendors should see their equipment doubled and the pill bottles should start 100% full, not 50% or 70% full. If I were to fully ransack a single Marine Prep Vendor I could have a fully kitted loadout but that would deny the second Medic anything of use.

Medics have enough on their plate, they should not be forced into a substandard loadout.

Also medics have a high need for a gyroscopic attachment as they oft need one hand free to drag people, which is why when I'm a medic I rush cargo to get a gyro+rds.

[nerocavalier]

You do need to be a medic to defib people, put them in stasis bags, and give people the drugs necessary to keep them alive on their way to the medbay.

But outside of that why worry about being asclepius in his mortal form? You're just a dumbass corpsman. Just shoot and keep people alive. Preparing optimal chemical mixes, hyposprays, getting pills from doctors, etc before first drop is borderline meta/powergaming anyway and comes with a ton of hassle and time. This is an RP game anyway, should you really be focusing on getting some dead guy whose head is hanging onto his torso by a thread into a fully healthy marine with a single splint, instead of doing the realistic thing and sending him to the professional doctors?

Corpsmen IRL are required to take a 19 week training course in order to learn how not to be a dumbass.

Naturally, IRL has no meaning because defibrillators here can only be used by trained personnel seeing that they can revive people that have been dead for a while. And yes, you should be focusing on them because you can turn them from a dead guy to someone that can actually survive being moved to the professional doctors because you have every tool necessary to do so. You can send them to a professional doctor after you turned them from a marine suffering from every pain imaginable to someone that can bear with having their neck wrapped so tight from all of the bandages and pain meds to ease the pain.

A RP game would have you doing everything you can to help them from actually making sure they're not dead, taking them back yourself, making small talk to keep them focused and not slipping back into shock, or at the very least, make their last moments comfortable.

The description on the wiki for stasis bags states, "Used to store critically injured patients, does cause genetic damage overtime though. Use with caution, as they can easily kill a marine inside of it. If they do die, they won't be able to be defibbed." So shouldn't you be using them on people who just took a load of damage, to prevent them from bleeding out and getting oxygen/organ damaged, or right after someone gets defibbed and given stabilizing drugs?

Someone with a collapsed lung should get whatever pills they need to survive to the medbay and no more. Doctors exist to actually fix them. Which is the point of triaging people to treat rather than cure them: you don't have the resources or ability, if you rp and just go with the default loadout, to bring people back from death into perfect combat form. Better to pass them on to the people who can.

The description for a stasis bag in-game is, "A folded, non-reusable bag designed to prevent additional damage to an occupant at the cost of genetic damage." When it's like that, it's very much different than the wiki says. Using them on a person who just took a load of damage will lead to them dying horribly and very likely ignored because marines learned not to open them by this point. So no, you should not be using it on them because in order to prevent them from dying further, you'll just be giving them a slow, painful death.

There's also no way in hell stasis bags encourages RP. Immediately after the surgery, you're stuck for a while in a cryotube, waiting for your time to pop off. Were it not for the bag, you could be flexing your new robotic limb, reassuring your squad you made it, or simply thanking the doctor for saving you without being unceremoniously dumped into a cryotube. Without stasis bags, marines can complain about their injuries on the way back, emote because people can actually see them and they're not stuck in some bag, and there's a somber moment between a medic and their patient where they gingerly buckle in their patient into the dropship's seat while reassuring they'll make it.

You can't do any of this with a stasis bag.

Doctors exist to treat them, you exist to make sure they get there. If a marine says they can still fight, point out the many ways they can get their splint broken and promptly die. If they still insist, force them back. Splints being breakable are to reinforce that fact that no one can be in perfect combat form after death.

There is more RP to being a medic than being a PFC that keeps people alive enough for evac. When newbies are nervous on first drop, re-assure them with a "Hey, at least my vomit is cleaned up from last deployment. It reeked in here because of it." When a marine gets nabbed, call out where they are, ask for assistance in locating them, talk to them, don't leave them to die alone and ignored. When someone's on the dropship back up because of injuries, give them tramadol because pain fucking sucks. When a dying marine is calling for his mom, be the person to hold his hand until he dies (or preferably heal him and hold his hand, anyway).

I really wish I could say that I do all of these things but I don't. After this, though, I'm going to damn well try.

[Karmac]

I really wish people understood that RP is what you make of it on this server, let's be honest once you hit the dirt and the aliens come out of the woodwork it's not expected but it's appreciated, and saying that medics are powergaming for performing the job they EXIST to do is most likely going to piss off a fair few people. You can't force aliens to look at an OB and not know what it is and you can't force medics to not heal wounded patients because "I dunno how to unsquish organs lol".

[Ghodere]

Pretty sure Challenger's posts in this thread should all be read in an angry, bitter, sarcastic tone- saying that doing your job well and playing to save people is getting harder and more tedious all the time, as if medics are trying to be pushed into the ridiculous role he's talking about.

I don't agree in totality, as I can actually bring more supplies now than I could before at the cost of some menu fumbling every half hour, but it can't be denied that getting all the things done that you really should pre-drop as medic is hard as balls and, at best, ends in you missing the first drop as you slip out of the human wave to the dropships to beg medbay for your near-essential supplies while everyone else boards & leaves.

[mazazon]

To throw my hat into the ring. I tend to roll medic but I stopped playing for several months originally because I didn't want to have to bumble around the new map, then other things to play, other things to do. I've recently started playing again though.

I actually enjoy medic... I find turning the bodies continually piling around me into functioning marines satisfying. Doing a good job as a medic is satisfying to me. That stress of knowing the only reason the frontline is holding is because of my ability to get the wounded back in is kinda nice. Some of my favourite rounds have been the ones where I was the only medic standing on the frontlines. Though it feels really shitty to malpractice someone. The first time I OD'd someone felt terrible.

So... yeah I often play medic, and I'm the weird person who enjoys it. I've been preparing to maybe try doctor (I have some experience with chemistry and surgery on other servers) one of these low pop nights when we occasionally don't even have one at round start. For similar reasons to why I like medic I guess. I just enjoy tackling the puzzle of colonial marines medical system. All the more because it seems like we desperately need people willing to try it and put in the effort to become competent.

Medic is a daunting prospect for a baldie who's only played standard but once you get into it, it's really not as complicated as it sounds.

[Challenger]

Pretty sure Challenger's posts in this thread should all be read in an angry, bitter, sarcastic tone- saying that doing your job well and playing to save people is getting harder and more tedious all the time, as if medics are trying to be pushed into the ridiculous role he's talking about.

I don't know why to imply an angry tone into this, I made it pretty clear from the outset.

Medic is only fun to play now if you just unironically play the way devs intend you to and RP your way through being a regular retarded corporal who doesn't metagame. Everything else is unnecessary hassle and stress.

You just generally get a lot more resistance playing to be a god of healing as a medic now. Play with the default loadout under default assumptions with minimal investment into the medic side of things and you'll have a lot more fun, still do your part of the job by keeping people alive for medevac, and spend the rest of your time firing into the darkness. It really isn't a cardinal sin to be more laid back and go combat medic, and if you're worried about the effect on the meta just remember 1. you're going to lose anyway 2. grunts have first aid kits, tricord, and CPR now.

I didn't call the example of healing someone from a crusher stomp powergaming, don't know where people got the idea from.

[alekfenrir]

I as well enjoy playing medic.

It is stressful, and it does feel a bit shit when people are cursing you for not fixing 'them' while I'm wrist deep in the poor fucker that came in bleeding from six places and broken in four while they're only mildly hurt. Getting bumped sucks, and others pestering for things is a pain, but I feel it’s worth it to know I’ve helped dozens of marines who’ve been dragged in get back up and out there. I think of it as helping others play more of the game for longer, instead of sitting in deadchat and watching the round go by.

While I'm not thrilled by them the new bag updates aren't the end of the world for my load out, though I'm going to miss being able to hit 'E' to toss my scanner back into my pocket quickly and the extra clicking around to get at things will take time. It does feel like more and more little things are getting piled into Medics way that makes getting into it daunting.

Learning it can be a steep curve, and sometimes the mistakes you can make will hurt people, but I’m always happy to see a new medic who’s willing to learn on the field, and if they ask questions happy to give them crash courses in things or assign them simple things like ‘stop all bleeding in everyone that comes in’ or such like to help them cut their teeth on things.

Like others have said: you have a huge set up time, and that often precluded getting into the RO's line for attachments for weapon. People will say “You're a medic and don't need them”, or don't need them period, but tis a shame to see a small portion of the game written off for you just because you chose the medic.
I’m saddened a little to hear there will be less and less interaction with the medical staffs coming. While going to check for supplies and such in medical might be seen as frustrating to someone, it’s that rare moment of peace for the medics before the round starts, just them and the docs in med bay. Often the medics badgering them for supplies and what not, but still I’ve always enjoyed the conversations that get had, the bitching about who’s squad will be FF’ing people, or how many broken bones they’ll have to deal with this drop etc.

I’d of liked to see MORE interactions between the Medics and the Docs, the small medical community that’s onboard ship in total is only about a dozen people who hold the responsibility for caring for and healing every other soul on board. I’ve had great rounds where there are excellent Docs and Medics, shooting the shit while they can, and working hard to keep people from expiring on their doorstep or at their feet to keep people in the game. Some of the most gratifying rounds are when there’s a group of them, working to clear out med bay or a triage location, all labouring together and getting people up and moving again instead of putting them into body bags.

But yea from time to time I’ve noticed a few less Medics, or a lot of new people taking it up and sort of freezing, so it saddens me to see a few more things tossed in the path of your average medic to make the gameplay for them less enjoyable, and the entry bar a bit higher for people trying to take it up.

Well that’s my rambling 2 cents.

[Jackie Estegado]

I stopped playing medic for the summer because of the summertide there is barely ever a competent chemist able to atleast make the basic pills by drop or even doctors that can do surgery in an acceptable time (sometimes doctors are so incompetent they don't even know how to get peridaxon pillbottles from vendors).

Yeah and Snype, most of the competent players trying to help other marines by going medic will hate the devs if they impose more restrictions on them, they need to be given more stuff not less if you want players to keep playing medic.

[Snypehunter007]

I stopped playing medic for the summer because of the summertide there is barely ever a competent chemist able to atleast make the basic pills by drop or even doctors that can do surgery in an acceptable time (sometimes doctors are so incompetent they don't even know how to get peridaxon pillbottles from vendors).

Yeah and Snype, most of the competent players trying to help other marines by going medic will hate the devs if they impose more restrictions on them, they need to be given more stuff not less if you want players to keep playing medic.

Its not just the medics though that are the only people who are players. Doctors are players as well, I don't think most doctors appreciate having their storage closet raided by medics and shit scattered everywhere. If that isn't what you are referring to, please point out what you were.

[Steelpoint]

To be fair Snypehunter007 most 'competent' medics go to medbay just to get extra pill bottles of standard chemicals, since their marine med vendors don't have enough to equip two medics.

I also nab a spare Toxin Medkit for misc storage, and since no one ever takes one its not a loss.

[Bronimin]

Its not just the medics though that are the only people who are players. Doctors are players as well, I don't think most doctors appreciate having their storage closet raided by medics and shit scattered everywhere. If that isn't what you are referring to, please point out what you were.

Medics raiding the storage closet isn't that big of a deal, the other doctors make it just as much of a mess.

It's when the medics also steal all of the roller beds and/ or the defibrilators that it gets infuriating.

[Blade2000Br]

I stopped playing medic for the summer because of the summertide there is barely ever a competent chemist able to atleast make the basic pills by drop or even doctors that can do surgery in an acceptable time (sometimes doctors are so incompetent they don't even know how to get peridaxon pillbottles from vendors).

Yeah and Snype, most of the competent players trying to help other marines by going medic will hate the devs if they impose more restrictions on them, they need to be given more stuff not less if you want players to keep playing medic.

Tobe honest, the first time I rolled Doctor, I was so scared to play the role that I took literally 3 minutes to hand out peri to an medic. That person, however, was very patient and even hugged me for my slowness.
If it wasn't for her, I would just plain stop playing doctor. I still can't help to play doctor, much less medic.

[Tidomann]

Medics raiding the storage closet isn't that big of a deal, the other doctors make it just as much of a mess.

It's when the medics also steal all of the roller beds and/ or the defibrilators that it gets infuriating.

Which makes no sense, because there are tons of spare rollerbeds and defibs in the medic prep area.

I love playing medic, but now I can't divide my attention between the rapid onset of marines and doing mod jobs.

[solidfury7]

Medical unfortunately doesn't have the old feel it used to.

I still love the role but I just find it doesn't match to other roles such as SL these days.

[Sneakyr]

I don't find medic too stressful, but I don't like being a huge target for meme runners and the like to just give a few cheeky slashes as they pass and then repeat. Besides that, the storage system update is kind of a medic buff but I absolutely hate how tedious it is to get any of my supplies out, since not even my pockets are quick access now without the knowledge that I just sacrificed a bit of extra inaprov/tram/an entire advanced first aid kit.

[mazazon]

Learning it can be a steep curve, and sometimes the mistakes you can make will hurt people, but I’m always happy to see a new medic who’s willing to learn on the field, and if they ask questions happy to give them crash courses in things or assign them simple things like ‘stop all bleeding in everyone that comes in’ or such like to help them cut their teeth on things.

I don't think I've ever had the fortune to come across someone like that. I remember a round with a new medic who was willing to come to the medic prep and let me hand them a lifesaver beltbag and a medical HUD. But he didn't want to stick around for a crash course in medicine. He ended up stuffing his bag with ointment and bandages and I think died within a few minutes of landing...I ended up missing the drop while waiting for Peri and I never saw him again. I'm totally willing to give someone the quick run down of Bicard, Kelo, everyone gets a tramadol. The simple but oh so useful stuff, if they are willing to let me lecture them for a second. When I do see a baldie medic skip out on med supplies I try to talk to them... ask them why they have no medicine, do an IC "hey buddy you're making me nervous", usually they don't even respond.

[Symbiosis]

I used to main Medic.

I stopped playing Medic about a month ago. It's a very stressful "job" to take. I had my loadout perfected and could swing by attachments to get my gyro/mag Shotty and finish my loadout by 12:20. I had all the QC I needed, the Bic, Kelotane, and the super necessary Hypospray.

So why did I stop?

If I didn't micromanage my kit; I'd run out of supplies since generally half the Medics play like Challenger suggested; a self healing PFC.

If I got stuck on scouting I'd often be one of the first Marines targeted.

If I run out of supplies the "resupply" from cargo is straight garbage.

If I died without using much of my kit I'd get salty due to busting my ass to prepare just to get Merced early on. The final straw for me was getting looted by another Medic who didn't defib me. Just left me after taking most of my supplies. They then died from a hunter pounce after trying to be a self healing PFC.

I'll stick to more enjoyable roles on the Marine side or Xeno; especially after the briefing shutters update on the 2nd floor.

[Stripetail]

I used to play medic only, then we had a major marine rework and xeno's started tearing ass every round. (A month or two ago xenos were winning within 1hour on Big Red consistently.) So I got tired of my rounds only lasting five minutes on the field before being merc'd by a hunter while I'm stuffing a marine's guts back into their chest with two marines standing and watching the whole thing happen.

Now I mostly play ship crew, but I love medical and when I feel we have good medics about I run chemistry for them to get them things I know they need in order to compete with the massive influx of wounded they'll be seeing.

Sadly you have got to metagame somewhat just to have a loadout that lasts more than five minutes, that's why we have massive threads dedicated to the craft. I've run with the default medical equipment in the prep before and though you could treat maybe 3-4 patients effectively if you're lucky it will then be nothing but wasted space on your belt.

We have a lot of people trying out medic right now, which is incredibly cool and makes me smile, because I remember how terrifying my first days as a medic were, hell my first days as a doctor was me being coached by a seasoned medic on how to do my job, they were patent and awesome. I think I just prefer to stay on the ship because I know my round won't end quickly but I still medic from time to time.

If medics got more supplies in their starting vendor that would be incredibly helpful, and as for stasis bags, DO NOT TAKE THESE FUCKERS. Stasis bags are only good in extremely niche situations, they are a fate worse than death for marines and if I'm playing medic and find a patient in them I tear the fuckers out and ask them who stuffed them inside. Stasis bags are often a guaranteed death for the marine inside.

Right now it just takes a lot of preparing, and a lot of stress for what might be a three hour round where everyone is on their knees bowing to the medics for saving them, or a five minute round where aliens pick ONLY YOU OUT in a crowd and kill/drag you off where a pfc/other medic finds you and loots you for the advanced medicine on your body instead of reviving you.

[Challenger]

If it's any consolation, bald medics dying at least doesn't really waste that many supplies.

I'm still salty about the jackass bald near illiterate engineer I was paired with who took all the supplies, the sentry, and the welderpack with the other supplies, then ran off into the darkness and was the first casualty of the entire deployment. We never ended up recovering his body or items.

[alekfenrir]

I don't think I've ever had the fortune to come across someone like that. I remember a round with a new medic who was willing to come to the medic prep and let me hand them a lifesaver beltbag and a medical HUD. But he didn't want to stick around for a crash course in medicine. He ended up stuffing his bag with ointment and bandages and I think died within a few minutes of landing..--.

I hear ya, I've been fortunate enough to catch a few, ask them if this was their first drop as a medic with the company to get some of that good Arrrpeeee going, and then talked them through stuff. Sometimes in the ready room, sometimes on the DS while waiting for the PO to drop, others in various FOBS if I found them. But you're not wrong, a lot of the new ones aren’t really talky about it, and either ignore you entirely or just run off and play healing PFC or what not.

I'm always happy to help teach others and I've been lucky to find a few souls who were willing to ask questions and listen.

[Clayton_Kelly]

Update didn't make them disappear. All the medics who replied in the pouch update feedback thread actually liked the pouches, myself included. It helps to organize all your medicines and equipment.

The Marine population slowly getting bigger and bigger is making them disappear. If I join the server late, the only positions available are Marine and some other ship role. People ARE taking up the medic positions but when you got games of 120-160 people, it seems like there are no medics around because there are just so damn many other players. And when mass casualties happen, good luck getting access to the medic.

Also, half of the time medics are the ones who actually bring wounded back to the DS. This cuts away any treatment they can be doing. They know that the marines are fighting, and that if we don't get the wounded back who we can't fix with anything else, that they are not going to be any help and we need as many marines up as possible.

Marines help with wounded too, but it's really 50/50 medic/marines bringing wounded back. And on the whole you got 8 medics with 80 marines running around. That medic you need so badly is trying to juggle between stabilizing critical patients, bringing wounded up so we can have a bigger fighting force, and then trying to find more supplies after you go through all of it from treating so many damn marines.

[Stripetail]

I honestly believe now that the skills system has been added in the way it has, that medics shouldn't have any delay putting a pill into a marine's mouth at all. This alone would make being a medic SO MUCH EASIER than it currently is. The risk of OD is there regardless of the time it takes to administer a pill, and if a medic is incompetent enough or un-attentive enough to OD a patient after scanning them they'd likely of done it prior to having to wait 3-5 seconds to force a pill down a marine's gullet.

With 8 medics trying to heal upwards of 100 marines I feel like the pill delay being reduced or removed would just be a really nice QOL buff.

Or at least have no delay on a patient that is healthy or concious, as they'd likely be willing to take any drug a medic shoved at them if it stopped the excruciating pain they were in. Meanwhile keep the delay for a unconcious or dead person as it is more realistic to have to actually force a pill down their throat.