Should Medic Units be included in JTCS?

[K K Rossokolski]

I voted no, because his would effect the game.

For the record, and not to start an argument, but Ed, you've made this point several times and it's incorrect. The addition of any unit only affects the scenario that it's used in, not the game itself. EA affected the game engine and the way CS is played, new units do not. That argument is very true when discussing the merits and flaws of extreme assualt.

I should also point out that the new versions of Matrix CS introduced new units of all kinds that affect the scenarios they're used in, but not the core game itself. "Heavy Metal Thunder" plays just the way it did when the designer created it. No medics, no recon planes, no trains or submarines.

Lastly, Matrix even introduced new armies, making more worlds for the creative designer to work in, more historic battles to research, create, and for us to get a taste for when trying out those new scenarios that take advantage of them. Should we ask Jason to reverse all that for v1.05? Get rid of all the new units and armies? Isn't it enough just to not play the scenarios that use them? I, myself, have yet to come across the non-submersible sub or the recon plane or the train. Designers don't like them, I guess. Tested and failed? Did it damage the game? I think, no, it did not.

Dave

There are two issues here, and they both go to the very heart of CS as a highly versatile historical simulation of battle, with the ability to include every combatant nation we can think of.
This is the prism through which I view the game. The addition of anything new must be tested against how faithfully it replicates the real thing.
A flamethrower, for example, which was not in the very first CS releases, was added years ago; it acts and looks like the real thing, as we want it to. We recently got an elephant..used in WWII and in Vietnam. Eye candy par extraordinaire, looks great but also does what it should. Top class historical simulation. On less certain ground, we have MPs with no powers of arrest, nor can they keep order amonst the troops. Neither can they be bribed. But they can do other MP stuff such as HQ security, convoy guards. Not vital, but nice to have.
We could certainly add medical elements which look like the real thing. But I am yet to be convinced that they can actually do anything. How does the CS medic pick out the wounded from the CS platoon? How does the dustoff helo know who to load? The talk of morale enhancement may have some validity, but all I have seen is a lot of motherhood stuff, and I need a lot more convincing on this matter. The priviledged legal status might be more than CS can handle.
But if added, even if they don't work, I don't think they will detract from the game's image and reputation.

Which brings me to the second issue....elements which are so awful, so lacking any connection to reality that they insult our game by their mere existence in it. I refer of course to the dreadful, appalling "airfield bombers" which shoot their bombs miles away without ever leaving the ground. And of course the bathtub navy. Sure, like medics, these things do not need to be used by designers , but the very presence of such unrealistic garbage lowers the reputation of CS as a serious, well considered and brilliantly evolved war game.