New Unit for Civ 3 Idea

[CivilizationCanuck]

I would like to see a Medic unit in Civ 3. In Civ 2 you pressed the spacebar and the unit was supposed to heal. Now this could be the case in Civ 3, but I would rather see a truck with a red cross on it come to aid damaged units, as well as a engineer truck or brigade to help vehicles.

I think it would be a nice addition. What do you think?

[Ralf]

I posted this a couple of weeks ago:

"A new unit that i suggested earlier is "Red cross" that heals wounded units by tanking over from their own damage-bar, before returning to nearest city (with hospital city-improvement) for refueling.
Only one unit per (hospital-equipped) city is alloved.
Red-cross units makes no discrimination between helping friend or foe, so keep them away from damaged enemy-units."

The Red cross unit idea have also been suggested by me way back in "The List V1" sent to Firaxis July 14, 1999.

[Dom Pedro II]

Too much micromanagement. Besides the Red Cross would be very late in the game. People would just use the old Space Bar up until that point (unless they don't heal at all) and then suddenly they would have to use the Red Cross. I would hate that. Things are supposed to become MORE convenient with technology, instead it would just become way more complicated and it would be very tedious sending them out there.

[DarkCloud]

Anyways, it's not as if the units are truly 'injured' they have just lost men and need to 'recruit' some from the surrounding countryside.

[wernazuma]

if a unit is damaged its officers simply go to the next pub, make a guy drunk and make him subscribe to the army... (greetings to prussia )
even neglecting the micromanagement problem medic units don't make very much sense in a game where a turn is always a year or more.
i suppose every military unit in civ to have its own imaginary medics, we don't need specific medical units, that would be more CtP-typical if you ask me.



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Wernazuma alias Cheshirecat alias Wörn

Master Mind of the World of Arendra

[Urban Ranger]

Hmm...

There's some logic behind this madness. When a unit takes damage it means some of the men are killed, but some others are merely injured. Thus, if some facilities are present to speed up the healing of the injured, that would cause the unit to recover combat strength faster.

However, I would say this should be an integral part of the units, i.e., when a civ has advanced sufficiently to allow for battlefield hospitals. Existing units could be upgraded to include this.

Or maybe a benefit of the civ with the wonder Red Cross?
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited November 17, 2000).]

[UltraSonix]

I support the wonder idea. The medic unit would entail too much micromanagement. The wonder, though, shouldn't be made too powerful. So perhaps it could just allow a unit to heal 20hp per turn instead of 10hp per turn.

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards... Despite any stupid advertisments you may see to the contrary... (And no, koalas don't usually speak!)

[Uncle Sparky]

The Red Cross is an international relief organization. It would be wrong for only one civ to benefit from the Red Cross wonder. It would have to be like the Manhatten Project wonder, effecting all equally. In game play terms, it would then become useless.

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There's nothing wrong with the dream, my friend, the problem lies with the dreamer.
[This message has been edited by Uncle Sparky (edited November 19, 2000).]

[Shogun Gunner]

Are we talking about M*A*S*H 4077? I want a Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Honneycutt unit.

I don't see this can be introduced without other people calling for other very specific units in other branches.

What about an Army signal unit for communications?
What about anti-sub netting around harbors?
Why can't destroyers have AEGIS system like cruisers?
What about a supply unit (like the Allies' Red Ball express in WWII France)?
This list could go on and on...

Is the medic the right approach?

Maybe the barracks could be viewed as the real life Army Base which in real life has a hospital, supply quartermaster, training faciliites, etc. When you sit your unit in the city with a barracks you heal up faster...maybe because of that army hospital, recruitment/training and resupply. I believe we could just keep it where it's at in game terms.

[airdrik]

I agree. Down with the Medic unit, too much micromanagement.

Instead, you could have army/naval/air bases set up by that type of unit (for air bases, they could have a setup unit that can ride over on a ship, finds a spot and sets up the base, or just have any military, non-air, unit be able to set up an air base). After all, they already have air bases, why not naval bases and ground troop facilities?

[UltraSonix]

quote: The Red Cross is an international relief organization. It would be wrong for only one civ to benefit from the Red Cross wonder. It would have to be like the Manhatten Project wonder, effecting all equally. In game play terms, it would then become useless.

Point taken - so just change the name of the wonder to something other than the Red Cross and make its benefit specific only to the building of the wonder. I know it sounds a bit cheap, but the idea is good...

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards... Despite any stupid advertisments you may see to the contrary... (And no, koalas don't usually speak!)

[Biddles]

Include the medical package as a workshop component.

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- Biddles

"Now that our life-support systems are utilising the new Windows 2027 OS, we don't have to worry about anythi......."
Mars Colonizer Mission

[UltraSonix]

Exactly - it's easy to implement and would be a welcome addition to the game.

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No, in Australia we don't live with kangaroos and koalas in our backyards... Despite any stupid advertisments you may see to the contrary... (And no, koalas don't usually speak!)