The Medic Thread (A GDF Resource)

[Viperkhan]

I encourage everyone to post useful information regarding the GDF Medic class in this thread to supplement or correct what I've written here. The letters A),B),C) etc. are not listed that way according to priority or importance, they are worked into the text simply to make the text easier to read. When I mention "the soldier", I most often mean any of the other classes besides the Medic.




Role: Support


Main function: To heal and revive fallen brothers in arms, and remove all Strogg Spawn Hosts.

Secondary function: To deploy Ammo & Health crates at strategic positions, using the smoke grenade.

Tertiary function: To aid in any infantry military operation, be it a direct assault or defense of an objective.



::Main function::

This is your primary function in ET:QW. How well you perform this function can turn the tide of any battle to the GDFs advantage. The most important thing here is not to lose track of your role. Keep in mind what class you are playing. Next, keep in mind what classes you are not playing, to better help you focus on your job.

A) You are a Medic.
B) You are not a Soldier, not an Engineer, not a Field Ops etc.

That's right, that's the train of thought you should be on right now.

Pay close attention to your team, Pay close attention to the designators on your mini-map. You'll soon discover which logos concern you and your role. When someone dies, they'll leave a rather big green indicator on your mini-map basicly meaning in short; "REVIVE ME". Always glance up at the mini-map, it contains a lot of info regarding your surroundings.

Listen to your team, Pay close attention to what your team mates are saying - either writing, or messaging through the comms system. If someone says "I need a medic", or something like that through their comms (pre-recorded audio), their indicator arrow on the mini-map will now become a rather big red cross, meaning that they wouldn't mind one of your medkits right about now.

Learn to set priorities on the fly. As I've mentioned above you'll constantly be flooded with visual and audio communication from your team requiring your help in one way or another. You can't possibly be everywhere at once, even a veteran medic of the GDF can't handle that trick. So, what to do when you can't be everywhere? Observe where the hotspots on the map are. Usually these hotspots are 'naturally' in the vincinity of the current main objective. You will be needed there more than any other place on the map - set yourself a perimeter in your mind, "I will help those I can within this perimeter" - because if you divert, you might lose track of what is the most important thing: Ensuring that those who have business revolving the main objective, gets to that objective - Alive! Everyone needs to be saved when they die or sustain damage, however, those in your perimeter, in this case in the vincinity of the main objective, should be given your full dedication.

Strategic and tactical movement, to apply yourself, and thus your abilities, the best way possible, is to adopt a few specific movement patterns. You enter the role of the medic, you shall now be reminded of one of the better ways of movement using this specific class.

C) Do not rush the main objectives alone. You are a Medic! A medic is a Support class. You can't complete these objectives. Medics are a social class. Stay close to your brothers, and notice how useful you become.
D) Never take point. Never charge an objective first! You have no business charging the objective first. Who will revive you when you die? The soldier!?
E) Keep your distance to the closest friendly soldier, watch out for him, throw medkits in the path of his possible retreat. - when players are hit in FPS games, the first natural movement is to walk backwards or strafe, depending on the surroundings. Or throw a bunch of medkits at a specific location in a soldiers advancing path preferably where the enemy confrontation is or close, find yourself some cover and keep churning out those medkits - the soldiers will take notice and come to you for a burst of health as a part of their combat movement in the area/room.
F) You are a support class. Give covering fire when you can, but try not to get yourself killed, while at the same time take chances within reason, time and distance - and dare to be brave at times - if someone is close - although guns are blazing in every direction: sprint towards him, do a quick revive revive tap, and get back behind cover. Constantly be mindful about keeping the "machine" going, it is your job to keep the soldiers running and firing their weapons - thus keeping the momentum of the attack. A steady Medic can save the other players quite a lot of time running back from whatever spawn point they start at when killed, and instead continue the battle where they"left it" though a little reduced until you get them patched up further -the main thing is that they're there.
G) When it comes to healing yourself, always throw the majority of medkits out to the other players - then take one for yourself. Remember though, that the main thing is that they live and continue the fight - if you must retreat to
heal, by all means do so, as quickly as you can - and remember if you don't have a full bar of medkits available don't sit behind cover and wait until you do and then proceed to heal yourself up fully - take whatever medkits you have available, be it one or two - and get back to the frontline again and stay a little behind the rest to observe who needs your help from a slightly less vulnerable perspective. In short, give your team the majority of the packs, while you sporadicly take one for yourself (as you see fit).
H) If you come across a Strogg Spawn Host (looking like a red glowing ribcage - which is serving as a one-time spawn location for whatever Strogg decides to claim it) - run up to it, if the situation allows it, and apply your defibrillator one time and it will vanish.
I) Be proactive as well as reactive in relation to your teams current situation. It is far simpler than it sounds. What we mean by this is that sometimes, you have to be one step ahead of the rest. Think ahead and your brothers will thank you for it.
For example: Around main objectives (such as the EMP Disruptor or Sewer Controls on the Sewers map), you should drop all of your medkits in that small area, even if you are all alone or not, because you know that soon or maybe already, friendly forces will have to do a job in that area, and they will benefit from the medpacks thoughtfully placed around the main objective increasing their chances of survival if attacked.

Fight or revive? On some occations you'll be forced to make a choice regarding opening fire and engaging the enemy - or saving one more of your downed brothers. This is a tricky one, and it will certainly depend on the enemy forces in the area - gather as much information as you can, but the golden rule though, if you're stuck in such a confrontation, with no apparent retreat - go for the rez. Yes, go for the rez. If you are lucky, you can rez him before you die, and still manage to walk around and fire for a short period of time, while your rezzed brother creates a second target - thus increasing your odds of survival as a team - you as a medic might die being the weaker target Healthpoints-wise, but the soldier you revived might continue on still and win the confrontation.

The "Wounding to Revive":
If you find yourself out of medpacks, and you see a friendly with far below 50% health next to you; a good way of giving them a quick boost of hope is to apply your defibrillator on him until he drops to the ground (or shoot him), then quickly revive him back up again. It will hurt, but he'll thank you for it when its done.
Remember: Your target friendly soldier is required to be far below 50% health, or he will attempt to defend himself from what he thinks is either a TK'er or an enemy Covert Operative. This method is not one fully supported by all Medics, and it will not be something your team will be expecting you to do. It's your call as a Medic to decide whether or not to make use of it.

The downside to this trick is that most players tend to insta-click their punish button the moment they find out they've been TK'ed. Actually, this isn't TK'ing, just TW'ing with a twist of meds in the mix.

[Viperkhan]

::Secondary Function::

You will be equipped with a smoke grenade, no not the usual kind you throw to create cover, but the signaling kind. Where the smoke grenade settles after you've thrown it, a dropzone for a small, but -very- useful crate of ammo and medkits will be marked.

How does this work? You need your entire medkit bar saved up, you can only throw a smoke grenade if your bar is full. After you've ordered one, and remember this only works outside as it's dropped from a plane - there will be a few seconds wait, and the crate is there. Then simply just approach it and it will slowly but surely refill your ammo and health. It will be indicated by a special green cross logo on your mini-map. If placed correctly, this can be a real asset to your team.
Remember: The Strogg radar will also pick up and display these crates of goodies through their mini-maps. Like mentioned above your brothers will be able see the location of the crate as a green cross indicator, while the enemy will be able to spot the same symbol, green replaced with red. Don't let this piece of information stop you from signaling for the crate to be dropped down though - enemy radar will, as you know from how our radars work, pick up pretty much anything, be it infantry movement, vehicles, deployables - everything GDF, so just keep at it; don't be careless of crate placement, as even though enemies will surely be aiming for GDF units before a "relativly" harmless crate, it's best to keep it out of obvious crossfire situations if possible.

J) What you need to do is to keep this crate within your chosen perimeter (mentioned above in the Primary Function text), behind cover from enemy fire, away from apparent vehicle paths, but in a relevant defense or assault path of friendly forces. Close to a wall: A few meters away from a door and/or key entry point - are two of the possible ways to apply the crate. (If you place the crate neatly right next to a wall, it looks like it belongs there - and in the heat of battle, enemies might not destroy it as quickly.) Don't just throw the grenade out in the open - it will be exposed and open to be destroyed - and remember that your brothers need to walk up close to the crate to draw the benefits from it, so if it is out in the open - it makes them more obvious targets as well.

This little crate can save lives and fuel destruction in favour of our forces. If your current situation allows it, take the chance on ordering down one of these.


::Tertiary Function::

You are also equipped with a 1st and 2nd weapon in addition to your knife and grenades. Use them when you can to send those mech-bugs back to Stroggos and beyond. You are a support class, your orders are to save your brothers lives - if that means a call to arms, then so be it. Sometimes you do have to blast away a few foes before entering and reviving. Never put fighting as your NR 1 priority! You know what your job is. At least by now you should have an idea what it is. You are the Medic.

K) Do not underestimate the power and effect of "covering fire". Being a threat to the enemy, gaining their attention, firing in their direction etc. will all work against them. Firing in their -general- direction will also create what is called suppressive fire. The enemy will be forced to look for cover, or else risk taking damage. This can and will make opportunities for your brothers to advance or even flank the enemies while they aren't able to keep fully aware of what's going on around them. Excellent ways of proceeding through a hallway or from cover to cover, is for someone to lay down covering fire - forcing the enemy to duck behind cover, so that other friendlies can quickly press on without too much incoming fire.

L) Never fire unless you are pretty sure you can hit your target. Specific example: If there are one GDF and one Strogg fighting vs eachother, a duel so to speak - jumping and running around - you can't be exactly sure who to hit? Then wait. If your brother wins, then great, patch him up - if the Strogg filth wins, then take the injured Strogg down after the duel is over, and revive your brother.



I hope that many will benefit from this thread in one way or another, and that there are many useful hints and tips to come.

Thanks to everyone participating and reading the thread, and good luck Medics!

[ArcticWolf]

Nicely written. I look forward to applying it.

[mf-]

Very good guide.. Extremely useful for new players.

[fenrus]

I would like if they brought back the "Red Needle" over top of the unconscious body. It makes it blatantly obvious who needs a revive. I find the current symbols kinda blend in with everything. (since all your teammates have green arrows over their heads, even the ones that are 200m away)

[RoboDuck]

yeah nice guide good job dude It's pretty hard to hit people for me anyway cause my system usually laggs quite a bit so all I have is a shotgun which still works ok and then run around healing people... though the bastards alot of the time call for a medic and then run off when im right behind em>.<

[Czin]

Neat guide. Question; I've been playing medic a great deal recently and something like 30% of the people I res cause me to become "stuck" on them as they are standing up.

Any tricks to prevent this? Its gotten me (and them) killed more often then not.

[Viperkhan]

Originally Posted by Czin

Neat guide. Question; I've been playing medic a great deal recently and something like 30% of the people I res cause me to become "stuck" on them as they are standing up.

Any tricks to prevent this? Its gotten me (and them) killed more often then not.

I haven't encountered this at all to be honest. I never hover over the patients, I instantly move away after I've revived them, or I revive while moving (the latter one mostly, because well, we tend to get caught up in stressful situations being Medics in this game).

Try moving back or to the side after you've revived someone, make it a part of your gaming style - collision detection might be the reason your character and the revived soldier is clipping together and get stuck.

[loktite]

Slight correction for the spawn hosts, they only need one defib to remove them, regardless of claimed or unclaimed. You will hear the hitsound when you successfully hit them, at that point move on.

[darthmob]

Originally Posted by loktite

Slight correction for the spawn hosts, they only need one defib to remove them, regardless of claimed or unclaimed. You will hear the hitsound when you successfully hit them, at that point move on.

that's wrong!
when it's claimed you need 2 times. one for declaiming and one for destroying it!
(at least it looks like this: spikes go up the first time and body disappears at second)

[Ifurita]

no, actually, you only need one hit. I've confirmed this with the developers. What you're seeing is just an effect of the animation. The first hit destroys it, but it seems the spawn host registers that the link is broken first, hence the vanes dropping, but it really is just destroyed

[Viperkhan]

Thanks, I'll correct the OP!

[Viperkhan]

Added the old "Wounding to Revive" trick to the OP.

[Ifurita]

Didn't read all of it, but did you address TK-revives?

Here is a "Medics for Newbies" article I wrote for RTCW. Some of the principles still apply. May do the same thing for ETQW

http://4newbies.planetwolfenstein.ga...com/medics.php

[Hakuryu]

I think calling in a Supply Crate should be a main function.

It takes only a second to do, but costs all your charge, so I usually call one right after I spawn. This way by the time I get near the objective, my charge is refilled and I'm ready to toss medpacks.

Supply crates are great for non-medics, especially to players that are defending something. The last capturable spawn in Sewer needs a Supply Crate or two for any defenders holding it against Strogg trying to take it back. If you've got a good sniper on your team, it might be worth a short drive to drop your extra Supply Crate near them.

They also can kill if they land on top of something, just like turrets. If you have the upgrade for an extra crate, I usually toss mine where I think the enemy might be... right next to the EMP build spot has netted me a couple of kills and even given an Engineer health while he was building and being shot at.

[Viperkhan]

Originally Posted by Ifurita

Didn't read all of it, but did you address TK-revives?

Here is a "Medics for Newbies" article I wrote for RTCW. Some of the principles still apply. May do the same thing for ETQW

http://4newbies.planetwolfenstein.ga...com/medics.php

I called it Wounding to Revive in the OP, it's the same thing. Check it out.

[Czin]

I used to always drop the supply crates at spawn but recently I've been putting them in hidden places around the middle. Standing next to a supply crate you pick nades up faster then you throw them so its easy to take out any turrents in range AND you can hide behind them!

Also when fighting next to them your damn hard to kill with the life your constantly receiving.

[dr.jekyll]

what would be the command for switching to the defibrillator and than back to the main weapon binding only one key?
could someone please help me.. thanks a alot

[[SD]BongoBoy]

Perceptive, thoughtful and nicely put. Wish I'd written it : )

[SeriousWorm]

Great guide I found that RTCW/ET medics are a lot more similar to GDC medics than their Strogg counterparts, which differ in a couple of things, so the RTCW/ET medic tactics can really be (if only partly) applied to the new class.

[loktite]

Great job btw, forgot to mention that in last post.

Another thing worth mentioning on supply crates -- they also appear on enemy radar (same symbol, green replaced with red). (forgive me if this was already mentioned here, didn't notice it)

[space]

Don't forget making stockpiles of medkits on objectives your team has to build always helps. When constructing the EMP disruptor as a engi it always helps to have medpacks scatters all over the area you need to be in to build the objective.

Being pre-emptive in situations like that is always a blessing to your team mates.

[Viperkhan]

Very nice input guys! This is exactly what we need.

Thanks for the kind words BongoBoy. If I'm not able to update the OP, please refer to the actual posts in this thread as well.

@ loktite: Added, thank you!

[Viperkhan]

@ space: Added! Thanks a lot space. Yes, I hate to admit it, but I forgot to mention this one - I do this a lot, and so should every Medic if they aren't already doing it.

[fjavier]

NOT a soldier
NOT a engineer
NOT a field ops

YOU ARE A MEDIC!

YOU HAVE TO HEALTH MAINLY !

We don't like to see medics fighting as soldiers and not giving you health or reviving you.

Thank you very much by this ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY thread.