Anyone else love saving people?

[JennerH]

Title

I love saving people in this game. Like as an example, I was an SO, and I was 110% Sure the CO was a damn traitor, so I did my duty to my marines and informed them on the matter. Long story short it got me permabrigged until the dropship launched, in which I was let loose and given a weapon.

Now right before I got caught and perma'd I'd recruited marines for the beginnings of a mutiny, and one of them decided to personally protect me. Didn't work out that way, but I met her in the hall near upper med after the ayys boarded and we went towards SD. She gets murderized by an ayy, so I grab her and rush the hell back to the ladder, barely making it down before the queen screeches us.

I rush to med to find everyone there dead except a couple PFCs and some jackass in a compression suit. I then discover that yes, SOs have Defib training! But shit, I need medical supplies and the machine is denying me, so I run around med until I find a medical belt, run back, assblast a hunter, and drag her dead corpse to the west doors to hangar. I shut the doors, activate the shutters and in that 1x3 space I manage to save her live. Made me so happy. Sure 1 minute later I had to ditch her and hide in a disposal unit, but I still saved her. I've had some of my best RP moments saving people, and that's why I love it.

What about you guys? Do you love saving people? Tell me some of your sick saving moments, or don't!

[caleeb101]

The time I was the last guy back from Hydro on the retreat and had to bring a wounded man back with me. I fought off 3 hunters and a runner with a vanilla shotgun, some tricordazine, a series of bad pounces and a whole lot of luck. Only managed to kill a hunter though. The feels were good man.

[Robotic Potato]

Playing Medic so much has made me hate saving people, they are not worthy of saving.

They will only disappoint you, it's a fact.
Yet I still always try because secretly I'm a masochist.

[Skysoldier]

I always play medic, because more people I save it means more people get to enjoy playing... in essence.

But with that said, my methods of doctoring/medicing is really mechanised that there usually isn't really cool moments with saving people.

It's all about the thankless job for me honestly.

[Gnorse]

As a survivor main, there's nothing better than filling young T2s with buckshot to save your buddies.

[Karmac]

Feels good as a medic/doctor, usually a waste of time/supplies/your own life as any other role.

[Ms.Degrasse]

...What about you guys? Do you love saving people? Tell me some of your sick saving moments, or don't!...

That actually depends on the character I am playing with, Jenner.
And there are very interesting "twists of irony" on the details.

I designed two characters as "particularly loyal to the USCM", to the point they would risk themselves against all odds for the sake of saving the others or winning a battle.

Those are Erika and Tylor.

But...
Some of the other characters - who would run away from situations where the odds are clearly against them - end up dragging injured back to the base as a "tactical retreat" (excuse for leaving the front in most of the cases).

Sometimes it work much better than doing first aid, seeking a doctor (or being the doctor themselves) in the middle of a battlefield.
And it makes Erin, Edgar and Svetlana better on saving people when the situation is really bad.

They tend to draw people from battlefield straight to medbay. End up doing a lot of nursing (where giving food saves those needing blood) and calling medics and doctors for the wounded.

Then there is Sadako. - A character that kills for pleasure, and only needs a good excuse where she isn't going to be arrested. And favours melee weapons.

The practical consequence is that she end up killing , scaring away or at least distracting the xenomorphs or predators in situations where most marines or other staff got caught by surprise or are already disabled.

Hence she is more than once "the brave hero" in dropship, command room, medbay,...
Rarely cause friendly fire incidents.
And for her paradoxically "cold minded" nature, she also never get involved in marine-on-marine fights.

(While it's quite easy to get Tylor involved on those. And Erika was more than once provoked into this type of fight.)

I remember a situation where Sadako was a doctor in old Sulaco.

Upon hearing about hostile Iron Bears shooting marines aboard, she got anesthetics and hid in a locker close to bridge.
When the invaders passed by her, she jumped out, injected the last of them, dragged him into a room, closed the door then strangled him to death.

Only he was exactly the iron bear commander.
So the others lost a lot of time searching for him, missed the bridge and command crew entirely. Then got neutralized by marines and military police officers.

She did similar stuff more than once.
Tazed and axed a predator by the dropship...
Did the same to deathsquad by the brig....

But the medal? I would give to Logan.

I created him only for testing features originally.

He designed stuff like "healing smoke grenades / combat spray" that actually worked.

And sometimes he employed tactics like "crashing into the xenos using a wheelchair + fire extinguisher" (guaranteed stun, where you avoid friendly fire by resting on the ground) or "tossing random stuff for scaring xenos" (more than once they think it's a grenade) that went better than I could imagine.

But I never wrote his dossier, and he actually entirely lacks a fixed personality.

The absolute flexibility of "zero personality-driven roleplay (and gameplay)", where I have to adapt to circumstances while not "testing crazy concepts", turned him into the most efficient rescuer I could ever conceive.

What is Logan's combat proven rescue method, as a marine?

- Have tricordrazine injectors, gauze packs, folded bed and at least one "non-two-handed-firearm" (ideally two).
- Fallen comrade? No medics or doctors? Inject him with the tricord. Unfold and buckle to a bed. (Put his gun in his armor slot if he dropped it AND the situation permits.)
- No enemies around? Apply gauze on the entire body. And give them some food.
- Then drag to a doctor or back into the dropship. (Keep weapon at hand when dragging.)

The rolling bed serves three purposes....

- You drag it faster than you can drag someone by the floor.
- A xeno can't drag the injured away without unbuckling them first.
- A jumping xeno coming from behind will hit the bed instead of you.

The only downside are some baldies with no idea on how to unbuckle themselves.

The rest of the trick is that gauze will stop external bleeding.
Food will heal blood-loss.
While tricordrazine heals all damage types.
So that oil for burns is redundant as far as I know (get it, but have space for more gauze).

For a one-handed weapon?
Anything with gyro is better.
If you couldn't get the gyro, have instead a submachinegun (on autofire) or a revolver. NOT a pistol.

Have in mind that when dragging someone to safety, small xenomorphs are likely to try to ambush you.

Some notes on weapons for rescuer styled marines (or combat medics)...

- Shotgun with buckshot is god in close quarter but useless if said xeno is a spitter in the corner.
But you CAN load buckshot and slugs in the same shotgun like in real life...
(Usually I load one buckshot, then I pump, then I load another buckshot and a slug - and I keep doing it until the tube is full.)

- Magharness is a good thing to have, and the only excuse to not carry two weapons. (Yet, you may get out of ammo. realoading while dragging a rolling bed isn't practical by any means.)

- If not using shotgun, but a rifle or SMG? Turn on the autofire.
Remember it's mostly CQB confrontation during a rescue, and you are alone, so having any xeno coming close to you peppered with single click is better than firing single shots.

- For a rescuer's secondary weapon, do not use the 9mm pistol... Go with the .44 revolver.
Pistol is acceptable for suppressive fire, when you are behind barricades but unreliable when it comes to stopping power.

- Pay attention to your surroundings and don't waste ammo, unless you know there are marines likely to be nearby.
Remember, gunfire WILL also attract xenos.

The last tip?
Grab and take back to Almayer all SSD people you found (specially non-marines), leave their specialized gear on requisitions and cryo them.
That means free slots for more players to join in crucial roles.
The more medics, engineers,... on the field, the better.

[davidofmk771]

Dragging wounded from the FOB as it fails always makes you feel like a badass. A guy's collar in one hand, and a revolver in the other, shooting any damn xeno that tries to snatch him up.

[Skimmy2]

I cant save people because their is no Chaplain role.

On a serious note, one time I desperately preformed CPR on somebody while calling for a medic, creating a rather heavy scene before chest bursting infront of them about 3 mins later on the Alamo.

[JennerH]

There have been countless times where I've tried to be the hero just to get hugged or gutted by a runner/spitter duo, doesn't stop me from doing it over and over again until I succeed!

On a different note, anyone think being a baldie medic would make a good character gimmick?

[Ghodere]

On a different note, anyone think being a baldie medic would make a good character gimmick?

A baldie medic? Never heard nothing quite so ridiculous.

[Amaxin]

I play a squad medic and a doctor a lot. When I started doing so, I tried to save everyone - the good, the bad, the ugly. And the stupid, running off into the dark on their own - suit light off, of course. I did die a lot, yet I don't have many regrets about it. When ghosting after a total failure, I knew that I at least tried.

I got into maining a squad medic just because of the few people I had a pleasure of treating. Yes, pleasure - majority of the marines just demands tramadol, splints, spits in your face, calls you a retard and walks off without any sort of gratitude (even though you risked your life to walk the road from the Nexus to tfort on your own just to treat their ass). But the very select few, that actively roleplayed when injured, thanked me for it, and stayed around for another round of treatment after they got hurt - it was definitely worth it.

I remember defending the LZ on Big Red, where everything was going to absolute fuck. Lines and lines of barricades, sentries, smartgun emplacements - sounds good, yet somehow it didn't work. I was one of the two last marines fighting, I was cornered in a dark spot by about five aliens. Blasting them in the face with my shotgun as often as I could, I kept my eyes on a friend that was in crit, and kept dragging them behind me, hoping that somehow we'll live through this. In an act of stupid bravery, I managed to kill a hunter and few runners before eventually getting bodyblocked by the xenos, still dragging my (dead at this point) friend behind, to get stomped, slashed and ravaged. Even though I died, I felt really satisfied knowing that the person I was trying to save really appreciated the effort.

Tl;dr: Help marines, be a happy person.

[Sailor Dave]

I almost never get people spitting in my face when I play medic. Nearly every single person I treat at least acknowledges me, even if we're getting swamped, and I treat a LOT of people. Most of them are really appreciative, even. Medic is very far from a thankless job for me, and it's probably my favorite role.

[OTURNIP]

On the other side of this, I find that most xenos are very inclined to save each-other even with the anonymity. Even young runners have xenos going out of their way to try to drag them to weeds.
It felt good the other day being able to save an ancient spitter from certain death by getting the marine chasing him to step on a thrown hugger and dragging them to safety.

[Amaxin]

I almost never get people spitting in my face when I play medic. Nearly every single person I treat at least acknowledges me, even if we're getting swamped, and I treat a LOT of people. Most of them are really appreciative, even. Medic is very far from a thankless job for me, and it's probably my favorite role.

Gotta admit, the facespitting slowly came to a halt as of late, it mostly happenned during the Sulaco days. But playing a medic is not only enjoyable because of the people appreciating your efforts, it's also about feeling useful and knowing you contributed into the round. At least that's how it is for me.

[Skubblers]

As far as actually helping someone, I remember breaking out of a nest at one point with another PFC nearby, so I broke them out too without alien interference (it was low pop) and I remember skulking around the hive with them for a little while, our bootknives drawn, before we found an exit. Pegging it across the river back to the LZ was cool, but naturally my character didn't know why the crabs jumped on people's faces, so I rearmed from scavenged munitions and joined back up at hydro before popping behind the battlements.

I love taxiing the wounded out too, they say thanks nine times out of ten while completely ignoring the medic that saved their lives, very nice. Hate doing it without an escort though, you always get that horrid feeling between hydro and Nexus...

I used to like slapping bandages and salve or tram/tricord on people when I had it spare, but I stopped bothering with the salve and bandages when I was told that it actually precludes medics from treating people with advanced first aid kits? Is that true?

God bless medics. I never seem to get more than two or three words out of maybe two medic players on the server, and they always seem super stressed out. It's not hard to tell when it's role-played and when it's legitimate frustration. Thankless doesn't do it justice.

[Kris P Kreme]

Had this one neat moment when it was those russians vs the marines, i had lost an eye, an arm, and im pretty sure a leg too. Yet i went on as the specialist, eventually became temp SL and began dragging out my fallen squad members to the dropship. Bill Nye might have died this day, but his sacrifice was worth it.

F

[Omicega]

Medic is, thankfully, far from an entirely thankless experience for me, at least nowadays. I obviously can't speak for what came before, but it warms my heart every time a marine expresses gratitude for being fixed up, takes up a position to give me cover from stray xenos, or otherwise goes that little bit beyond just standing there silently waiting to fight again. Like Dave said, the silent types and shouty types are by far the minority - usually things only get a bit heated when places like LV Hydro/TFort or Big Red's Lambda entrance turn into utter bloodbaths. It definitely helps to have a reputation built up, too - people are wary of medics they don't recognise in some way shape or form (once overdosed, twice shy).

I will say that from the second I clapped eyes on CM, I saw myself zeroing in on the medic role like I was laser-guided towards it. I spent the first week as a squad marine to get a handle on the game, then tracked down every single medic and medical-related guide I could find and read them cover to cover before finally jumping in. In the end, a couple months down the road, all that's changed is that I'm more accustomed to it than ever, but that same feeling of accomplishment every time I extend someone's round a little bit further never really diminishes. From a purely ooRP perspective, it's a real responsibility to be left so often as the one thing standing in the way of tens of dying marines and an hour or more forced into observer mode, but the satisfaction of getting it right and keeping people actually playing the game they logged on to play is something that makes all the stress worth it. There's no other role (in my opinion, anyway) that gives you such a tangible feeling of contributing to the team as medic does, even though undoubtedly great SLs, smart engineers, and any number of other well-played roles can have just as much of an impact.

Diving in after a queen screech with a gyro shotty, dragging dead and wounded friends back over blood and weeds and gore, and finally shocking and splinting them all the way back to life - it's tricky to beat the sheer exhausting satisfaction of a long, difficult medic round gone right.

[Sailor Dave]

I used to like slapping bandages and salve or tram/tricord on people when I had it spare, but I stopped bothering with the salve and bandages when I was told that it actually precludes medics from treating people with advanced first aid kits? Is that true?

God bless medics. I never seem to get more than two or three words out of maybe two medic players on the server, and they always seem super stressed out. It's not hard to tell when it's role-played and when it's legitimate frustration. Thankless doesn't do it justice.

It does prevent the use of kits, yes. They'll heal slower with just gauze and ointment.

For me personally, it's not really stress so much as I'm bouncing between so many people and trying to get them up ASAP that I don't have time for more than a quip or two before someone else runs up, though I usually try to manage at least that much on top of letting them know when they're ready to go. It really isn't as thankless as it used to be.

[nerocavalier]

Medic is a nice, relaxing activity the majority of the time. It helps to remember that there's another person behind that little bleeding sprite.

[contactdenied]

I used to play medic a lot, but now I main marine. It feels nice to drag someone out of an acid cloud or shake them up from a neurotoxin spit, sure, you don't get thanked much but the people that do thank you make you feel like a good person. I've had way too many situations where I insta die after being revived, so I feel bad for the people that get fucked that badly and I try to help out the medics by CPRing their patient until they're ok. I'm thinking of macroing a simple thank you for any time my ass is saved, but typing it out feels a bit better for some reason.

[TopHatPenguin]

Make-shift stretcher bearer is probably my favourite thing to do as a standard as you're helping medics and also the injured chap.

[Sailor Dave]

Make-shift stretcher bearer is probably my favourite thing to do as a standard as you're helping medics and also the injured chap.

Just please, PLEASE don't run off with them without asking the medic first. It's really obnoxious to be working on a few people and a PFC (or a pilot, wat) strolls up trying to be 'helpful' and drags off your patient(s) to take them to the LZ or something. Don't be that guy, guys. If the medic is finished and wants you to take someone, they'll tell you.

[Kerek]

I used to, it always ended up getting me shot in the back since I’d run in to drag away stunned or injured teammates. Now, I still assist others and find it satisfying, but in the long run I try to keep my characters alive over others.

[Stripetail]

To this day I love playing the hero, I just choose my moments a lot more carefully.

I still remember being a researcher when lower medbay was being killed by aliens. I saw a marine get knocked down and nearly killed at the ladder base, climbed down, grabbed them and climbed back up with the queen right by me, Threw both shutters down and drug his ass to the SD where I revived him. He thanked me a lot.

The only time I will ever get salty at a medic is when one has stabilized me, stripped me of my armor and weapon, and then straps me to a gurney when we're behind lines and there's no real other major injuries, doesn't dress me and then drags me half a mile to the FOB.

If I'm a private this is fine, but if you're a spec or worse a smartgunner you will almost never find your shit again, especially any attachments, marines go to them like bugs.