weak medics are good?

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by Jaybe
Many people advocate using an explorer as a medic, though I do not. Naval-wise, I usually have my carriers with the medic promotion.

If you play on a large Pangea Map, scout medics are useful because they are not singled out for attack while in a stack. On an island map I like a medic transport.

[jnh140]

My favorite have to be copter medics; range and mobility always gave me some extra flexibility

Going to try the scout trick out this evening though.

[MinorAnnoyance]

I had used weak units as medics, but it hadn't occurred to me to use scouts/explorers as medics.

[DirtyMartini]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a thread discussing the game mechanics of medics?

Like --

Injured units on adjacent tiles A and B.
On my turn, Medic III moves from tile A to tile B, while...
All units on tile A rest, and..
Units on tile B attack enemy units on tile C, but do not enter tile C (enemy stack larger than mine)...

Who heals and by how much?

If I understand/recall correctly, all of the units (besides the medic) would heal in this situation.

On topic: I use scouts or chariots as medics.

[snoopy369]

Medic healing occurs during turn end/start, so it would matter where the medic ended his turn (not where it started).

[Blake]

Units with march always heal. Otherwise units which have expended moves or attacks do not heal. This is not the same as saying that "Units which have moved wont heal", a unit in a transport will heal except on the turn it is loaded (which expends it's moves) or attacks (which expends an attack), a unit which attacks wont heal despite having not having "moved". Moves and attacks are actually the same thing (a unit can't attack without expending moves).

Medics apply the healing effect where they end their turn.
It makes absolutely no difference what unit the medic promotion is on and whether it has moved or not.

Healing is done "by domain units are on". A Medic II/III unit which is sitting on a water tile will heal all units on adjacent water tiles, a medic on a land tile will heal all units on adjacent land tiles.

Basically if you have a stack on the sea with transport + units on the transport + naval escort, it doesn't matter what unit has the medic promotion. It can be a "land" unit on the transport, or the transport, or one of the escorts. ALL the units on the tile will gain the benefit of that medic promotion (if they are allowed to heal).

But a Medic III unit standing on the coast can't heal adjacent ships, unless they're in a city.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by Blake
Units with march always heal.

If your medic in a stack has March, does it heal all units while that stack moves?

[Blake]

Medics don't heal other units. They empower units in the tile/vicinity (for II/III) to heal themselves faster.

March empowers a unit to always heal itself, it will heal itself faster in the presence of medics.

edit: So you can think of medics as units which pass out bandages, but they don't actually bandage hurt units. It's up to the hurt unit to stop and bandage themselves.

[snoopy369]

(To Supr49r)

No. Medic gives a +10% heal rate to all units - meaning if it heals 0, then 0+10%(0) = 0 (if you will).

Think of it like in Magic (the CCG). If a unit is 'tapped', it doesn't regenerate health; if it's untapped it regenerates health, and if a medic is present it regenerates 10% more health.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by snoopy369
(To Supr49r)

No. Medic gives a +10% heal rate to all units - meaning if it heals 0, then 0+10%(0) = 0 (if you will).

Think of it like in Magic (the CCG). If a unit is 'tapped', it doesn't regenerate health; if it's untapped it regenerates health, and if a medic is present it regenerates 10% more health.

OK, healing is slightly obscure to me. How about the following example:

Your stack (among many other units) contains:
- Scout with Medic I,II,II (GG promoted)
- Mech Inf with March
- SAM Infantry with Woodsman I,I,III

Your stack takes collateral damage.

If you keep your stack marching toward the enemy, how does the healing take place? Doesn't the stack heal in a couple of turns?

[snoopy369]

The Mech Inf with March will heal, the rest won't. They will heal at the accelerated rate, as far as I understand it.

Basically Civ goes through this pseudocode (Blake could give you the real stuff I imagine):

(end turn)
(stuff)
For Each Unit Do
{ If Unit.HasMarch() or Unit.Moves() = Unit.MovesLeft() then Unit.doHeal()} (if unit has march, or if unit has all move points left, then process its healing)

Function Unit.doHeal()
{ If Tile.HasMedicII() or (for each Tile next to this Tile: Tile.HasMedicIII()) then healRate = healRate*1.1; /* if there's a medic that applies to this unit, add 10% to heal rate */
if Unit.IsMedic() then healRate = healRate*1.1; /* if unit is a medic then add 10% to heal rate */
Unit.HP = Unit.HP*healRate; /* heal the unit by the healrate */}

The only thing i'm not 100% sure about is how multiple medic promotions interact - if medic1 and medic2 and medic3 overlap any or not; and if they are multiplicative or additive.

[snoopy369]

The main thing is to remember that in Civ4, Units are processed individually. For a non object oriented programmer this might be hard, but it's essential.

Civ4 does not take each medic unit, apply some healing to other units that it affects, and move on.

It takes each UNIT, looks to see what things might affect its healing, then processes that unit's healing. Thus, any unit that has expended any move points and does not have march DOES NOT HEAL for any reason other than healing due to getting a new level promotion.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by snoopy369
The main thing is to remember that in Civ4, Units are processed individually. For a non object oriented programmer this might be hard, but it's essential.

Civ4 does not take each medic unit, apply some healing to other units that it affects, and move on.

It takes each UNIT, looks to see what things might affect its healing, then processes that unit's healing. Thus, any unit that has expended any move points and does not have march DOES NOT HEAL for any reason other than healing due to getting a new level promotion.

Aha! So your stack does NOT heal while marching unless every unit in the stack has March. That clears up a lot. Thanks!

[Kuciwalker]

Nonono. The units in the stack that have March will heal, and the units without will not.

[OFogy]

Another day, another lesson learned.
Thanks!
[QUOTE] Originally posted by The Priest
Absolutely! My games have been revolutionised (ok maybe that is a bit excessive) by learning how people use scouts and explorers as medics.