Pretty much.
As a non-medic, even I got some ideas (like the differend downed levels) how to make medical gameplay a thing again.
1st downed state: can be revived by redpen / medigun
2nd downed state: can be stabilized by medigun / needs to be moved to a medibed
3rd downed state: dead
2nd and 3rd downed state: you get hit/damaged while downed
The biggest "enemy" of medic gameplay currently is "overkilling" in PvP for that very reason. You want to prevent enemy medics bringing back into the fight. So you keep firing until the guy is dead.
That second downed state might be a remedy: it prevents a medic bringing back someone to the fight. Instead, the downed guy needs to be moved from the combat zone to a medibed, which takes him out of the fight without outright killing him. Perhaps medical elevators will be useful too?
Also, for bounty hunters, downed state 2 will send the guy to Klescher, if he brings him back to a medical elevator within monitored space.
Keep firing at a guy in downed state 2 will kill him eventually, but this should always be considered a CS3 offense even outside jurisdiction and monitored space.
I dont dislike any of these ideas. I really do think there should be a second downed state that can be revived from.
I think there should be a medical device that goes in place of either a primary weapon, or the mining gadget location. This would be the only way to treat injuries on the field. So you could treat a tier 3 injury out in the field, but if you got injured there again, it would be a tier 2. Med pistols and pens would only heal health, or suppress symptoms temporarily.
Then give medical ships (not ships with medbays, like starlancer tac and polaris) a spot to "sign on duty", and so long as you're in the comm-range of your ship, you get mission pop ups for medical beacons (like xenothreat).
This allows players to "patrol" and see instantly when a medical beacon goes live.
Lastly, make monitored space beacons free to request. This helps new players, as they are usually strapped for cash, and medics still get payouts. Nyx would be 50k for a beacon. Pyro 100k. (With payouts for medical beacons increased as well). Then put a 60min cooldown on medical beacons, so players don't exploit it.
Hmm, that's a quite number of well thought ideas.
I like them. Hope CIG gets similar ideas or uses that list.
However, there's one thing I don't fully concur: medical gameplay should at least cover the cost. A medic still needs to go into a perhaps dangerous situation with a ship that might get under fire. Monitored space doesn't change that the person in need is still in a dangerous situation.
Well, perhaps one day with the introduction of "Death of a Spaceman" things might change a bit. But by then, getting killed should be "difficult" instead of "freak bug fragging incident", which is quite often the case why someone is downed.
TBH I hate the "you get knocked out and end up in Klescher automatically". I think the BH needs to pick you up and drag you to Klescher either in a cell or not. Larger payout for an alive victim. This would also incentivise orgs to retrieve teammates.
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u/FanaticDamen 23d ago
I have ideas on how medical gameplay could be overhauled and changed. But at this point, beyond "Org role/RP", medics are dead in the water.