New unit type: Medical Organizations within EF:FB ** AVAILABLE NOW FROM DOWNLOAD THREAD **

[Crossroads]

A working thread regarding adding Medical Evacuation logistics within the JTCS scale to this Mod.

Based on a idea by John Given of adding medics to JTCS, and Stefan / callsign Panther for his previous addition of medics into his Cold War Europe mod. Discussion encouraged, remember to act civilised though: we don't want anyone to get hurt! Then we'd have no option but to call in the medics...

Scale

Within JTCS, these units represent the evacuation of their wounded from disrupted units.

A platoon having recovered from a disrupted status has with help from one of these units succesfully had their wounded evacuated from them, after which they can carry on with their tasks at hand.

This can take place via Medics arriving to a hex a disrupted platoon or platoons occupy, or these disrupted platoons making it into a Dressing Station or Field Hospital.

Implementation

Included are:
Combat Medics, in Squad and Platoon strength (SP2, SP6)




- Designer note: one Medics Sqd per Coy, or one Medics Pltn per Bn

Field Dressing Station (Also US: Battalion Aid Station, Commonwealth: Regimental Aid Post (CA), Advanced Dressing Station (UK))



- Designer note: one per Bn

Field Hospital (Also Commonwealth: Casualty Clearing Station)



- Designer note: one per Rgt

Hospital Building
Similar to Field Hospital in function, but is assumed to be an established, fixed location that cannot be transported.


- Designer note: one per Rgt, if these are to replace a mobile Field Hospital.

For transportation, ambulances:



- Designer note: three per Field Hospital.

Platoon Files

Pxx450 2 0 1 0 25 25 10 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx450 0 2 3 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Combat Medics , Combat Medics , Medics
Pxx451 6 0 1 0 25 25 10 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx450 0 2 3 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Combat Medics , Combat Medics , Medics
Pxx460 4 0 1 0 100 100 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx460 0 0 3 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Field Dressing Station , FDS , FDS
Pxx461 6 0 1 0 100 100 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx461 0 0 3 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Field Hospital , Field Hospital , FH
Pxx462 6 0 1 0 100 100 0 0 0 2 5 3 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx462 0 48 3 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Hospital Building , Hospital ,
Pxx470 6 0 2 0 0 0 60 18 6 2 4 3 0 0 0 40 73 Pxx470 -3 48 8 0 0 0 30 1 53 12 0 0 0 Ambulance Trucks , Ambulance ,


As far as I've understood there is no option for separating morale boost from other leader capabilities; the only Unit Type that is available is that of Commander (03). As such, these units behave just like other commanders, they boost firing results for an example. For this reason I have provided these units with neutral victory point values. If you see them performing as regular soldiers: fire away!

Exception to this rule is, of course, ambulance unit. There is no need to fire upon them under any circumstances.

Snippets from Wiki:

Traditionally, medical personnel did not carry weapons and wore a distinguishing red cross, to denote their protection as noncombatants under the Geneva Convention. This practice continued into World War II.

According to the Geneva Convention, knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime.[2]

In modern times, most combat medics carry a personal weapon, to be used to protect themselves and the wounded or sick in their care.[3] When and if they use their arms offensively, they then sacrifice their protection under the Geneva Conventions.


For further reading:

http://www.ramcjournal.com/2002/sep02/tailpiece.pdf
http://www.ramcjournal.com/2003/mar03/bricknell2.pdf
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.p...9&t=196724
http://www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-med-org-e.htm

...to be continued...

[Ashcloud]

The look fantastic.

[Dogovich]

If I am playing Japanese, VC, NVA, NKPA, or most other insurgent groups, Red Crosses are good aiming points.

Okay, lets look at this a bit. Most JTCS battles take place over less than one day at best. Emergency medical care might put a few of your wounded back into the line, but anything needing a field hospital, large aid stations, or ambulances means that the wounded are going to be unavailable for the duration of the battle. So except for nice looking objectives that need to be protected, why do we need to have anything above the medic?

Still they do look nice. Good job on the graphics.

[John Given]

If I am playing Japanese, VC, NVA, NKPA, or most other insurgent groups, Red Crosses are good aiming points.

Okay, lets look at this a bit. Most JTCS battles take place over less than one day at best. Emergency medical care might put a few of your wounded back into the line, but anything needing a field hospital, large aid stations, or ambulances means that the wounded are going to be unavailable for the duration of the battle. So except for nice looking objectives that need to be protected, why do we need to have anything above the medic?

Still they do look nice. Good job on the graphics.

Best way I know to answer that dogovich, is that it adds fun, variety, and another way (although admittedly inefficient in game scale) of restoring the unit to full fighting condition (morale). Keep in mind that the medic idea in the CS was never meant to be a huge game-changing thing. It's just a handy unit that adds variety and fun.

And you could argue that in some scenarios, the unit introduced for morale recovery purposes could literally be a game saver. In most situations though, it's merely convenient to have.

As far as I've understood there is no option for separating morale boost from other leader capabilities; the only Unit Type that is available is that of Commander (03). As such, these units behave just like other commanders, they boost firing results for an example.

Hey Petri, I was afraid of something like that. I could have sworn though I've seen officers with a leadership (morale boost) with one value, and the command rating (combat boost) with a different value. Is there a way to test it and see if it's possible to give an officer (medic in this case) a command rating of zero and a leadership of say, one?

I think I see where you're coming from in the neutral point values on the medics - you might be worried about gamey tactics. I still think they should have negative values, but at least with a neutral value an enemy won't benefit from destroying them. (but he of course will be denying use of your medics, which is the reason for the negative point value idea).

Also in Divided Ground there was a mod that allowed you to put civilians and even news trucks into a scenario - these units had a value of about -3 per sp. I'm thinking of the Muslims and Islamics add-ons. I'm not sure if there are civilian units in DG-Vietnam.

P.S. Looks like the dressing station and the field hospital have the same graphic. Any plans to upgrade the graphic on the hospital to make it look like a bigger building?

[Ashcloud]

I'm not sure if there are civilian units in DG-Vietnam.

There are civilian units and they add a great dynamic as far as game play.

[Crossroads]

@Dogovich

For a proper Winter War scenario, the Soviet player should also pound at them with a vengeance. Here's another Wiki quote on Combat Medics:

Traditionally, medical personnel did not carry weapons and wore a distinguishing red cross, to denote their protection as noncombatants under the Geneva Convention. This practice continued into World War II. However, the enemies faced by professional armies in more recent conflicts are often insurgents who either do not recognize the Geneva Convention, or do not care, and readily engage all personnel, irrespective of noncombatant status. For this reason, most modern combat medics are armed combatants who do not wear distinguishing markings.[7] Combat Medics in the United States Army and United States Navy Hospital Corpsman are virtually indistinguishable from regular combat troops, except for the extra medical equipment they carry.

As for how they fit the scale, it is all about evacuation of wounded from disrupt units only. It is not assumed anyone would be patched to return to duty. I wanted to simulate this up to regimental level, although I agree the best fit are the Medics themselves, or the Dressing Station / Battalion Aid Post. But the Regimental Field Hospital / Casualty Clearing Station is there as well, to be available for large scenarios.

One of the next jobs is to write the unit info text of the units into unittext.txt, I would certainly appreciate everyone's help with them, firstly as I am not native in English, and secondly as the name of the units varied through out the countries and duration of war. For an example, Regimental Aid Post, Battalion Aid Post and (Advanced) Dressing Station refer all to same unit, located some 1 to 2 click from the front lines. Then, before Field Hospitals / Casualty Clearing Stations, there might have been Main Dressing Stations. Also, as time evolved, Field Hospitals downsized to or had additional specialty units such as Field Transfusion Units and Field Surgery Units. So this is a bit complicated to abstract properly.

The idea is not to provide eye candy though, but new functionality / logistics.

@John

Field Hospital Building will have a separate icon, once I get up to speed. It has a unique bitmap identifier which is the Pxxxxxx in the middle of the unit data. It will propably be only a sign / flag pole to mark the building it is located at. These units are to be put into a building available in the map by the scenario designer. Edit: added it. Again, this hopefully makes sense when this unit is fixed on top of a building bitmap in the map.

@Ashley

Thanks for your support, as always!

To conclude, we will see if they make sense or not should Jason decide to allow them and encrypt the files. I feel they would be a terrific addition, but we need to wait and see

[Crossroads]

Here're the first attempts with Unit Data for unittext.txt

Combat Medics

Combat medics (also known as medics) are military personnel who have been trained for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury. Combat medics are normally co-located with the combat troops they serve in order to easily move with the troops and monitor ongoing health.

During WW II most medical personnel wore a distinguishing red cross, to denote their protection as noncombatants under the Geneva Convention. Already then many countries provided their medics with side arms or rifles to protect themselves.


Field Dressing Station <- Battalion Aid Station

Should have really named this within the US naming convention; Battalion Aid Station, as that is a very good descriptive name.

The Battalion Aid Station is a medical section within a battalion's support company. As such, it is the forward-most medically-staffed treatment location and is designed for the immediate treatment of battlefield casualties, who are then transported to field hospitals and other larger medical units further to the rear.

The unit has traditionally been staffed by the unit's Medical Officer, two Medical NCOs, and a small number of medical orderlies. Additionally, units employed stretcher bearers and drivers for the evacuation of battlefield casualties.

Battalion Aid Stations are not generally equipped to provide surgical treatment or long term care.

According to the Geneva Convention, military medical facilities, equipment and personnel are non-combatants and may not be attacked as long as they remain in a non combatant role. Medical personnel are allowed weapons for the purpose of self- and patient-defense.


Field Hospital


A field hospital is a large Regimental or Divisional mobile medical unit facility behind the front lines that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities. A field hospital would usually be located just outside of the range of enemy artillery and often near transportation facilities (e.g., a railway). The unit receives battlefield casualties from battalion aid stations located in the combat zone.

Casualties that cannot be adequately treated there are stabilized before being transported to a military hospital.

According to the Geneva Convention, military medical facilities, equipment and personnel are non-combatants and may not be attacked as long as they remain in a non combatant role. Medical personnel are allowed weapons for the purpose of self- and patient-defense.


Hospital (as Field Hospital, but fixed to a building)

A field hospital is a large Regimental or Divisional mobile medical unit facility behind the front lines that that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities. A field hospital would usually be located just outside of the range of enemy artillery and often near transportation facilities (e.g., a railway). The unit receives battlefield casualties from battalion aid stations located in the combat zone.

Casualties that cannot be adequately treated there are stabilized before being transported to a military hospital.

According to the Geneva Convention, military medical facilities, equipment and personnel are non-combatants and may not be attacked as long as they remain in a non combatant role. Medical personnel are allowed weapons for the purpose of self- and patient-defense.

In JTCS, a Hospital Unit is considered fixed, and cannot be transported. It should be placed to a building at a suitable location by scenario designer.

[Dogovich]

Reference the civilians in DGVN and DG, I put them into the game in two different forms. They had positive point values when the combatant killing them (such as insurgents, rogue armies, etc...) could derive value for doing so. These would form something that needed to be protected be either a rescue force, or someone who would lose points if their civilians were killed.

Civilians with negative point values were placed opposite combatants would would lose points when killing civilians (NATO, Israel, US, most Western Good Guy armies).

Makes for a number of interesting scenarios. Always had in mind a column of French Legionaires moving into an area in Africa to rescue a trapped civilian population threatened by one of the local rebel warlords. Or one scenario that I made had a riot in the Gaza Strip that had to be put down by Israeli riot troops. Basically a no win situation for the Israelis.

As for medics, well... most ETO Armies in west honored the Red Cross, but the Soviets, many Eastern Europeans, Germans on the Eastern Front, SS, and Asian Armies paid little heed to the symbol, so your point values (negative or positive) have to depend somewhat on who might be shooting at them.

[Crossroads]

Your DG and DGVN scenarios sound like good fun. Too bad I don't have the DG disks to try them out. Then again, I am pretty sure civilians exist in some of the JTCS country rosters too, I just haven't seen any scenarios where they are used.

As for my current thinking of neutral values, I was thinking from pragmatic POV.

First, these units (apart from ambulances which are just plain transports) are powerful Commander type units. If a player chooses to place them on a hex where he fires from, they enhance the fire results. In that case it would be considered they are not using their protection status under Geneve convention, and they would be fair game.

Second, it would be quite common I assume a dressing station or a field hospital would be run over by fast advancing enemy forces. In this case if I would be the one advancing I would prefer to capture the location and have the unit as POWs. An assault, capturing the units, would simulate that. I would not like to be penalised for such action. This would apply for any surrounded medics as well, it should be OK to capture them without a penalty. Especially as they would be units with a spotting capability (I assume, as they are unit type=commander)

I am anything but stubborn about this though, I would just like to test them first on a scenario...

[Ashcloud]

Your DG and DGVN scenarios sound like good fun. Too bad I don't have the DG disks to try them out. Then again, I am pretty sure civilians exist in some of the JTCS country rosters too, I just haven't seen any scenarios where they are used.

As for my current thinking of neutral values, I was thinking from pragmatic POV.

First, these units (apart from ambulances which are just plain transports) are powerful Commander type units. If a player chooses to place them on a hex where he fires from, they enhance the fire results. In that case it would be considered they are not using their protection status under Geneve convention, and they would be fair game.

Second, it would be quite common I assume a dressing station or a field hospital would be run over by fast advancing enemy forces. In this case if I would be the one advancing I would prefer to capture the location and have the unit as POWs. An assault, capturing the units, would simulate that. I would not like to be penalised for such action. This would apply for any surrounded medics as well, it should be OK to capture them without a penalty. Especially as they would be units with a spotting capability (I assume, as they are unit type=commander)

I am anything but stubborn about this though, I would just like to test them first on a scenario...

Get the disks here:

http://yhst-12000246778232.stores.yahoo....aco19.html

worth it for the Nam experience alone.