An idea for a new class of units - medical unit types

[John Given]

Hey all, I was thinking to myself about the need for a new type of unit that I have always thought was missing from the JTCS game: the lowly medic. I tried to figure how a unit like this could work within the limitations of the game engine, and came up with a few ideas. Here we go.

First, three types of units.

a. Medic. Lowest ranking. Looks like an officer. Movement late is the same as other officers, can be transported in transport units like officers.

b. Ambulance. This is simply a modified truck with 'medic' abilities included (see game function, below). Should usually be unarmored and unarmed. I imagine the U.S. HQ as a good example of what many might look like (with a large red cross within a white circle on the sides, probably).

c. Doctor / surgeon. Looks like a jeep or staff car (depending on the army using it). Should be fairly rare. Better stats than medic. Often 'attached' to MASH units.

d. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) - highest ranking medical unit. This would be a fixed building, similar to the 'supply depot' we have seen in the game. It's function would be similar to the medic, only with better stats.

Second - game function.

Since we have to stay realistic and work within the game engine, I envision a unit that

a. adds to a unit's morale and therefore also helps remove disrupted status that it is stacked with,

b. but NO increase to the other units attack strength (command rating).

In other words, medical units function like a sort of 'lesser officer' in terms of their capabilities.

Also, what about the idea of the MASH unit, in addition to medic functions (not sure if this is possible within the game engine), acting as a kind of HQ unit - it provides 'supply' to the medics and ambulances, and keeps them from going low-ammo. Low-ammo medic units cannot perform medical duties (increasing morale / recover from disruption). I put part of the first sentence in parenthesis because I question if a JTCS unit can have 'officer' functions and 'HQ' functions at the same time.

Here's another oddball idea: Since shooting these units was kind of a no-no (not sure but I think it was banned under the geneva convention laws), perhaps medic-type units should have a NEGATIVE point value to represent a war crime of sorts upon the belligerent player. The victory points (or is it anti-points?) would be higher for ambulances, much higher for MASH units. The moral: don't kill enemy medic units or you'll LOSE victory points (because in real life, these captured units could be used to help heal your own troops?).

I think these types of units could be included into the game and they would be helpful for adding variety, recovering units from disrupted status, and increasing morale. The question is,

a. SHOULD we consider something like this added into our hobby?

b. Would they increase the 'fun factor?'

c. Would it add some realism, or is it just cheesy?

Well guys, sound off!