Medics

[sepp3gd]

It has been a while since I have posted. I revisited and the first post I came to was back to Medics. And I conclude that medics would benefit the game by enabling you to have highly valuable experienced soldiers who were incapacitated and removed from the roster to return to your squad at some later time according to whatever the circumstances are surrounding the casualty. While this was highly unlikely and improbable due to an overall degradation of the fighting capacity of the Wehrmacht for this to occur for the Germans toward the end of the war, it was S.O.P. for the Americans to place an emphasis on medical attention for the troops to the extent of evacuation to field hospitals for even minor injuries with return to battle after a short duration of rest.

That being said, you could follow the status of your file as they are incapacitated, evacuated, whether they survive, are sent home, return to duty with no restrictions, or die from their injuries. While it is not exactly realistic, neither is the rapid and immediate decoration of medals, but it is a GAME.

Because as you progress through the game, it is likely that you will fight your soldiers through, and come to know the experienced and reliable. Weighing the risk of losing them on dangerous recon movements and holding down difficult to defend victory locations, versus sending in greener troops, has always been a tactical decision that adds yet another layer of realism to this game. As the fights become more dangerous it is inevitable that some experienced and reliable soldiers will be injured no matter how careful and good a commander you are. However, if they survive their injuries and are fit to return, they may, and thus you could one battle be lacking a necessary soldier or two that may have turned the tide on a local engagement for say a map or strongpoint and thus lose the battle, to only have that soldier or soldiers return back to duty to your favor and this time around be better prepared.

I know that this has already been the case in CC2 A Bridge too Far. And that this was definitely a highly fun point in playing the campaign through Cross of Iron. I look forward to The Bloody First. With all of the buzz surrounding medics, I don't see the necessity to add them to the combat gameplay or force pool, but after action reports of casualties are clarified.

[SteveMcClaire]

We've discussed some sort of meaningful decisions around a 'medic' ability in the game, but at this point they will not be 'on the field' saving / reviving guys. It may end up in the game as a limited use 'return this guy to duty' ability post-battle, so you can preserve an experienced soldier. No promises at this point though.

Steve

[bairdlander2]

How about putting stray dogs,insects or cows in the game?[8|]

[SteveMcClaire]

There will be cows! Well, dead cows.

Steve

[CGGrognard]

Can we have stray dogs that bark and give away your position?

[SteveMcClaire]

Sadly, no. [:)]

Steve

[mickxe5]

The occasional soldier who displays 'beserk' behavior by ignoring enemy fire to aid a comrade would be cool. Better yet would be 'incaps' who didnt just lie there helplessly BUT were never captured (even helpless vehicles could be captured). I'd prefer to see ~50% of incaps crawling/staggering back to the HQ/CP/aid station/entry VL much the way fleeing crews do, only using 'survival' pathing similar to units that have aborted movement due to fire. Battle histories are full of accounts of a steady stream of walking wounded trudging to the rear.

Incaps who cant move should be capturable. Soldiers with minor wounds ahould suffer a range of performance penalties, not a universal factor. And they deserve the 'red badge of courage' by getting a couple pixels of blood.

[CGGrognard]

As I recall, CC3 and Cross of Iron had a similar feature. Soldiers or units routed would make their way to safety off map.
In those games it was important to keep a leader nearby to help prevent them from routing in the first place. This made those games a little
more challenging in that command was essential to conduct effective battles.

[sepp3gd]

CGGrognard -

Yes, in the event that poison sumac, snake bites, or heat stroke cause a combat casualty. XD

But seriously, why not just have Religion in the game? We could add a feature that allows the soldiers to pray to their respective diety and then there is a chance, say .0005% that the prayer is answered. When prayers are answered, the moral can increase and... XD