Survival Guide I think it’s time for us dedicated Combat Medic to share our knowledge, tricks and style with each other. Too often do I see a medic reviving a target for nothing while too often do I see a medic running past an incapacitated soldier. Medic is an easy class to get in but quite a hard class to master. I love being a medic. I think it is the foundation of a solid squad. Being part of a very old competition clan (12+ years), my clan basically expect me to be the designated medic. I’ve learned the ropes in leagues and tournaments back in the good old days of Return To Castle Wolfesntein, was a top ranked medic in Battlefield 2 and 2142, played one in Team Fortress 2 and competed as one in Quake Wars. Even on a paintball field with role oriented scenario, I play the medic. Of course, It is only natural that I play one in PS2. Now, you need to take all this with a grain of salt. This is my proposition on how a good medic is played. It has worked for me in leagues and tournaments as well on pub stomp servers. How I play does not necessarily mean that it will suit your own style. Even my own clan mates plays the Combat Medic differently and they all get solid results. Take what works and adapt your own strategy is the way to go! The Combat Medic A role that everyone can get into and be somewhat efficient but at the end of the day, it is actually one of the toughest job on the field. You are the foundation of your team, your timing, fire support, healing and revive abilities are all necessary to the survival of your squad. If you’re in the for the XP, your team will fail. If you’re there because you like healing yourself to compensate with your lack of skills, your team will fail. You are the secondary gunner, the guy that’s not always at the far back but closely behind the leading charge. You’re a hybrid between an assault and a support class that will dance around various position as the fight dictates you. One bad revive sequence and your team is out of the battle. A good medic is someone with impeccable timing, great combat skills and a solid tactical mind. Sneaking around, choose to be aggressive or passive, running away when things are out of control are essential tools that a medic should learn. Now, I’m not really going to talk about skills, abilities and weapons here. If you need to know, I’m pretty much a fully maxed Combat Medic, with 100% revives and now working on Revive grenades. I’ve tried every gun available and have found my own setup based on my own way of playing. If you wish to discuss abilities and skills with me, I’ll gladly discuss with you. Pro-Active versus Reactive Great, you decided to be a medic but you end up being a heal bot and getting shot left and right is the norm. At the end of the day, you do not really feel important and end up switching to a different class that seems more involving. The ultimate goal here is to remain Pro-active but trust me, no matter what, there will be times where you’ll be forced to be reactive to a situation. Being pro-active means that you are observing the battlefield as a whole and trying to predict the outcomes. You are actively trying to avoid a situation where your team is completely wiped out. The first steps into becoming successful at this is to keep an eye on the status of your team. Are they dead or are they alive? Why is number 5 dead 120 meters away from the squad. Constantly opening your map to track the position of your squad and trying to be in a position where you can cover as less ground as possible. Using voice chat or in my case Ventrilo to let my guys know where I am standing. Observing choke points, noticing cover spots and finally, adapting yourself to the ever changing situation. As long as you understand what’s going on, have a solid idea on what you’re up against and you're aware of your immediate surroundings, you’ll be able to take split second decisions. The moment you lose control, get stuck healing and running between your spread across team means that your focus is now broken. Key points: Keep an eye on the status of your team Observe the battlefield and learn how to predict outcomes Use your map Prepare for a situation before it actually happens Take calculated risks Assault/Support: The Eternal Dance You never want to run around with your medic gun, exclusively healing. You’re simply too vulnerable and will die. You always want to have your weapon of choice in hand and ready to fight and second; support. The only time where you should become a healing bot is at a choke point or in a very hectic situation where if you shoot, chances are, you’ll hit a teammate. You are a Combat Medic and that means you are there to kill but as a bonus, you can play nurse. I know it sounds odd and before you disagree with me, here’s the reasoning behind it all. Healing or reviving is not instant. It takes less time to kill someone than to heal (assuming that your aim is half decent) – This means that in several situation, you’re better off shooting the enemy in the face and then revive or heal instead of just healing while your buddy is stuck fighting against the odds. In a situation where your team is fighting and does get wiped out, chances are that the opposing forces are probably reloading, half health and slightly agitated. If you start reviving your buddies, you’ll probably get killed before you can even pull it off. If you go all out and finish off the fight, you will be surprise on how often this works to your advantage. I remember back in RTCW, this was probably the number one tip a veteran medic would give to a recruit. Of course, back in that game, we knew exactly how many people we had to deal with. In PS2, this is a bit different but at the end of the day, this rule of thumb still works like a charm. So remember, you want to first fight and second, play the nurse. To effectively do that, you want to learn how to always dance between these two roles. Things get tuff, you go full healing bot, things are under control, you are there fighting with your squad, guns blazing. Key points: Learn to know when it’s time to fight and when it’s time to heal Practice your timing – Killing someone that is reloading is a good thing btw. Keep up with your team - Don't be a tourist! Learn to take quick thinking decisions – don’t just act on instinct, calm down and use your head! Positioning/Movement/Self Preservation Ok, so you’re getting good at observing and predicting the outcomes. You’re not too shabby with playing around stance idea but there’s one problem… You’re always dead. Luckily, we’re not fighting on a flat terrain with nothing to use for cover. Being pro-active will enable you to take notice of the terrain and in the back of your mind, you’ll remember that there’s pillar you can hide behind. Until you know each spots in the game by heart, take the time to explore a bit and learn where you can hide. Even if you’re only hiding 30% of your body, that is 30% more chance to surviving. When the fight is on, people get agitated and nervous, everyone gets a little adrenaline rush and bullets are flying around. If one of your buddies is incapacitated, don’t just rush in to revive. Think about how you can survive that revive and most importantly, think if it’s worth reviving him. If he’s dead in front of 3 Max suit, chances are, he’s going to die again. Be logical about it. If you cannot revive from cover, always stay on the move. Lock your medic gun on the guy and dance like it was your last night on earth. Sounds silly right? Well, you’ll be surprise on how most people suck at shooting a moving target. Again, if it’s only 1 guy, shoot then revive! Self-Preservation is your key to success. learning when it’s time to back off will really make a difference for you and your squad. If you enter a corridor with your 2 buddies and you’re suddenly attacked by an opposing force, stop moving forward, stay near the exit you just came in. If your shield suddenly drops, fall back and take cover. Basically, you should fight as long as you have a shield up, the moment it goes down, time to move out and hope that your team can handle the treat. If not, you’ll be back fully ready to finish them off or to revising the fallen guys. Always put yourself in a position that somewhat higher your odds of surviving but please, don’t put yourself in a corner with no exit, try to find spots where you have multiple escape routes. If you're stuck in a corner, hurry to find a better position. While self-preservation is great, there are times where dying may be key to victory. There’s a tank on top of a hill, pinning down your entire team. Your heavy assault tried to take him out but got shot before launching that last crucial rocket. Dude, now is the time to be a hero and to try to revive that guy. Killing that tank might be exactly what you need to break free from an assault. Once you're good at finding good cover spots, it's time to adapt and add a new layer of tactics. Generally, if you kill someone and he respawn close enough, he's likely going to come back and take revenge. Most people go by instinct and what does that do? They come back to your last know position. Now during a long firefight, constantly changing cover spot and moving around, will make you a hard target to hunt down. A few nights ago, my 3 buddies and I managed to hold a capture point for 45 minutes. After each encounter, we quickly switched things around, placed our mines at different location and took cover in a new spot. At first, we were fighting 5 or 6 guys but eventually when the Biolab was completely lost, we started get waves of 10 to 15 guys. Funny enough, we survived the odds until we got rushed by an entire squad of Max. Key points: Cover is your best friend even when it’s a tiny piece of rock that protects on your legs Learn to always be on the move (remember Duck hunt?) Value your own life but sacrifice it at key moments Always have an escape plan Combat Skills I’ll keep this short! Play with every guns and pick one that suits you. Become a master of that gun and learn its weakness and strengths according to your own skills. Practice, practice, practice at becoming a marksman. A good nurse is great but a nurse that can headshot people is even better! Killing people to ensure the survival of your team is pretty much the most efficient thing to do! Remember, healing and reviving in this game is slow. Killing is not. Learn to blend both worlds. Become a great soldier that people can rely on. Oh and also, don’t listen to people enforcing their setup. If the NS-11A with Soft Bullet Points and a silencer is your bread and butter, than by all means, use that setup. It doesn’t matter if the TAR is way better at CQC or if some mighty known player tells you that your setup sucks. The reality is this; which setup are you most comfortable with? Yes, you may want to focus on the most efficiently known setup but at the end of the day, it’s your game and your play style that counts. Key Points: Learn to aim - Seriously, practice your aim! Well, I hope that this guide can help some people and if it doesn’t, I had fun writing it and revising my own gameplay. I love being a medic and to that love it and rock, please do share your own strategies! One final word… Never play medic for XP. As a medic, you’re a selfless soldier that is there to ensure the survival of your team. By doing that, you’ll be surprise on how much XP you’ll do! If you need to know, I play from 8:30PM to 11PM and usually do between 50 to 100 certs without really thinking about it. I just do my job.
+ build your medic to a COMBAT-medic. when you're primary job ( killing enemies) is done, you can still rez & heal people. it's your job to stay alive as long as possible. and you don not to this by hiding and running away. you stay alive by killing the enemies. sometimes, when a team is stuck in one location and nobody thinks of moving out and rushing forward, i just grab my medic and do a suicide-nade-C4-underbarrelnadelauncher-run, to encourage the guys to rush
It's a good post, well written but I'd say that Combat Medics are not the foundation of a team at all, Heavy Assaults are. Any 12-man Infantry squad will largely be made up of HA because of their sustained firepower (large ammo-pool LMGs), increased lifespan (overShields), and above all Rocket Launchers (because vehicles are everywhere, especially Magriders!). Reviving people is a support task and a very useful one, thankfully we also have Assault Rifles which makes us a form of "Medium Assault" too.
Combat Now, it's true that everybody has their preferred setup but having a good close range gun is a must for a medic IMO. A lot of times you'll be in the thick of it and being able to melt face is quite important. Personally I prefer the TRV because of it's insane DPS. Also, the regen aura, use it when fighting, it can mean the difference between life and death. Even more so when you rush with more people around you.
After giving it though, I do agree that HA is the foundation. I guess what I'm trying to express here is the importance of your role.
My little tips: Use your damn C button. Apparently no one in the entire game knows what this button does or that its even there. You need to learn to duct during a fire fight when there is a large amount of friendlies around so you can survive. Your job is to survive in situations your teammates wouldnt so you can revive them as well as shooting enemies in the face. Which leads me to my second tip Pick up an armor. Either the Nanoweave or the Flak. Dont even think about touching the bandoleers or the shield capacitor you arent a Light assault. You need to make yourself tougher to kill. The Nanoweave is the most versatile and has synergy with your ability and thus it makes you really tough. Tougher then a heavy assault actually. If you do fight then youll want Nanoweave. IF you prefer staying out of combat then youll want Flak to keep yourself alive when grenades and airstrikes start killing your whole team. Pick a good gun. The best assault rifles for the NC and TR are the GR-22 and Cycler TRV respectively. They both only cost 250 certs. And yes I say best but they are truly numerically the best but they do have some issues with long range. Go watch LevelCap's video(youll also find the best VS assault rifle). Get the right equipment: I cant say for the NC or the VS but the TR's TRV has blindingly bright flash. If you have the TRV OR have flash troubles in ADS then you need to get the Flash suppressor ASAP. You dont need and wont find any real use for the normal suppressor as subtly just isnt your thing anyway(again you arent a light assault). You also want to get yourself some new sights for your gun. Trust me it will make a difference. 1x or 2x Reflex tights are the best for the previously mentioned assault rifles. Foregrip and laser and EXTREMELY weapon dependant. Just remember foregrip events horizontal recoil and the laser effects hipfire accuracy. For the TRV I say get the laser. Pick the right faction. This one a little more complicated and ONLY applies to beginners. Each faction's weapons have a different feel and youll want what feels the best to you. For example: Many TR players I know couldnt hit the broad side of a barn with VS weapons even though VS have more accuracy then TR. Also the NC are long to midrange specialists not short range like everyone seems to think. Short range is the TR. VS work equally well at all ranges.
It's a fun class. I highly recomend the H-V45 to Vanu medics. Lightning quick TTK with good ADS accuracy. It may be the best weapon in the game. A lot of people overrate/underrate high DPS weapons but they are important. I just can't see how anyone would prefer the Ns11a over this gun or the NC/TR clones. It's very very good. Also recomend two sticks of C4. When a Prowler rolls over the hill and he hasn't seen you yet it will be your best friend. I've got nearly as many C4 kills with my medic as I do my LA. Play aggresive. SOE gave us assault rifles for a reason. This is a class that is meant to be part of the push. As has been stated above nanoweave has pretty decent synergy with our ability. It's what I use personally (lvl5) but flak is a very good choice as well.
I think an important point to make is that with the final upgrade to the medic tool you will revive people so fast and efficiently that reviving will be way more useful than healing (two guns are better than one fully healed). Always go for the revives in a hectic situation where you have other people covering you, don't waste your time with the Heavy Assault who's down at 50% if there's a dead player next to him. Also, only start reviving if two of three conditions are met: 1: All enemies in your immediate vicinity are dead. 2: You have good cover and no enemy has line of fire to you. 3: You are surrounded by several at least moderately competent teammates. As for weaponry, it mostly depends on personal preference (and more importantly skill level). However, if you aren't planning on hiking across the icy plains of Esamir with no cover, your best bet is focusing on CQC (not ignoring midrange though). As long as your teammates and you have reasonable cover the only time it will really matter which gun you're using is when the enemy have moved up right into your face. When only condition 2 is met, you want to make sure that you can fulfill condition 1 by yourself so you can start reviving your teammates. I prefer the TAR for its versatility, but the TRV is the better gun at point blank range.
The combat medic should seriously consider certing Flash Scout Radar to max. That situational awareness lets you make much better decisions on when to revive or shoot stuff... I guarantee you'll be caught much less often with the medical applicator in hand!
If you are playing to support your squad in a fight, remember, you can't help your teammates if you are dead. Survivability is key, stay back, mop up the enemies, and rez your buddies. Flak armor is a good way to stay alive, nade clears the room, you survive and rez everyone.
A more succinct point about revives...the ability to differentiate between a viable revive and a non-viable revive is core to being a good medic. Always remember: do the greatest good for the greatest number. Sometimes that'll be getting those revives up. Sometimes that'll be healing. Sometimes that'll be pulling out your gun and adding to the direct combat effort... These types of calls aren't exactly intuitive and every CM will have a different formula (some will lean more towards support, I personally side more with combat than support but having BOTH is important), but it'll come with experience.
Most definitely. I've ended up where I'm declining many, many revives either due to many medics being unable to distinguish between a viable/non-viable revive, or what seems like medics just wanting XP/certs and not caring whether or not you're just going to get insta-killed upon revival.
[TR] Weapon Suggestions Before I venture forth, I need to warn people that this is based on my experience, my testing and style of play but I know that many will find this information very useful. The reason I took all this time to write this guide was because I wanted to know what I was talking about. I have GOLD/AURAXIUM medals and pretty much every unlocks on each discussed weapons. Even the weapons I hate went through an extensive trial period. This is not some review based on a 30 minute trial period. This is true combat tested experience. I am only covering TR because that is my main faction. I would adore to see someone covering NC and VANU. I only ask that you bring at least 3 or 4 weapons on the discussion. When I pick a weapon, I look at the followings: - Mobility - Efficiency - Burst requirements Many will argue, why not damage, spread, rate of fire and such? - Simple. Damage from one weapon to another is usually a 1 bullet difference and for me, that doesn't matter. Spread can always be controlled by Burst fire so it comes down to; Am I comfortable with the burst shot of this weapons? Rate of fire goes with efficiency but I ignore the stats. Is the weapon efficient in my hands? yes, no? You see, it is not about stats. It is about you, the soldier. Back in Battlefield 2142, I was a big VOS user and while on the forums, everyone was cheering for a different weapon, my K/D was still well over 5/1 and that's without any exaggeration. I was that good with that specific weapon. On the other hand, I was terrible with the cookie cutter, forum favorites [TR] CYCLER The stock weapon is not a bad choice and many will probably be more than happy to run with this jack of all trades weapon. It's really a good starting ground and if Medic is not your main class, you may as well stick with it and just put some certs in a few mods. Overall, this weapon is a stock weapon... it has no major weakness and yet, doesn't really shine anywhere, it's just a good all around weapon. TAR I know that many went with that weapon for the simple reason that it's a beast in CQC. I got to admit, when it comes to quickly killing someone, the TAR delivers. I personally have no problem with the weapon for anything below 25M but past that distance, accuracy becomes a problem. I've played around with various scopes and while I did get some fairly good results with a 3.4X and 4X, at the end of the day, I didn't feel satisfied by the medium/long range performance. My biggest grief about this weapon is the reload speed. The moment you go in a fight with half a clip or actually need to reload, your life is in extreme danger. Anyone smart enough to know that the TAR takes 3.2 seconds to reload, simply needs to rush you. In most cases, I'm forced to switch to pistol to finish the job. On the other hand, in CQC, HIP fire works wonders! Overall, the TAR is a good support weapon but I can't class it as a front-line weapon. The moment you're out of ammo, you're basically out of the fight for too long. Sure, the pistol becomes a superbe backup but to a point. Because of the reload speed and weak multi range capabilities, the TAR is for me, a very situational weapon. I'm a very aggressive player and I often lead the assaults. The TAR philosophy favours a more supportive approach and therefor, will shine in the hands of a more laid back player. I find that only the first first bullet is accurate while the second and third one is already spread a bit too much for medium and long range. Good weapon, just not suitable for my style. Suggestion: 2X scope, Advance Laser pointer, Soft Bullet Points TRV The TRV is very similar to the TAR and yet, it plays completely differently. Like its big brother, it favors close quarter but works extremely well in medium with a weaker but feasible long range. The reload time is a little bit more forgiving and while pistol will still be your friend, if you're good at finding cover, reload is not an issue. While the HIP fire is solid and very contained with the advance laser pointer. While I still favor a 2X scope for any types of engagement, the laser pointer is often useful in a quick strafe. I've played a bit with a 4X and 3.4X but my results were somewhat lacking but that may be due to a lack of practice. With the TRV, I have zero problem taking down Heavy Assaults and with enough tactics, I've taken several MAX down. Of course, a little C4 goes a long way to soften them up... Overall, the TRV is a weapon that requires a bit of practice. It is a good front line weapon and of course, a solid support candidate. Long range is possible but you work on your burst fire and timing. On occasion, I got a few cool sniper kills but let's just say that it is your main priority. For the TRV to work really well with me, I had to adjust my mouse sensitivity until I felt that I could be mobile enough during a hectic fight while conserving a certain stability. If you're going to use the TRV, practice, practice, practice is all I can say. In the hands of a seasoned player, the TRV hurts. I feel that it has a good 10 bullets accuracy for medium range and 2 to 3 at long range. To me, the TRV is the most solo friendly weapon a combat medic can have. If you're in a though situation where your entire team is down, fear not, the TRV will keep you on your toes. Suggested setup: 2X scope, Advance Laser, Soft bullets NS-11A I hear a lot of blablabla about the stats, the slower firing rate and a lot of "elite" players will say that it is lack luster. This is exactly the kind of feedback you want to avoid. The NS-11A is efficient at all range and while it may be a bit weaker in close quarter, its precision is enough to give you that missing edge. Unlike the TRV and TAR, you can actually jump into a fight, head on, kill a few targets, reload and keep fighting. This gun is especially deadly in medium/long range encounters and a little bit weaker in CQC. Unlike the TAR and TRV, with the NS-11A, you don't want to miss, each bullet must count and if you can make this happen, you will terminate any opposition with ease. HIP fire is a possibility but not a suggestion, use the scope as much as possible and the results will be satisfying. You can with ease, take down long range targets and can double shot burst at a sniping range. At medium range, I can virtually empty half a clip without suffering any major accuracy lost while at long range, it is a solid 3 to 5 bullet burst. This is my favorite weapon and while I do use the TAR and TRV a lot, I always come back to this gun. It feels light and works well with pretty much any mouse settings. It is not the most powerful but for me, it is the most versatile and that means, I can hop in any roles I want without thinking about my current weaknesses. Suggested Setup: 3.4X or even 4X, grip, Soft or high velocity (go with preference) - Compensator is ok if you really like long range. Pump Action ShotGun Ok, I'll be honest. Shotguns are a bit new to me (at least in PS2) but I got to say, it is a pretty fun and efficient weapon to use in CQC and while it offers a good front line kick, it is a wonderful support weapon. I will keep this one short until I feel that I have sufficient knowledge about it but yeah, if shotgun is your thing, give it a spin! PISTOL The default Pistol is just amazing. It is quite a brutal piece of hardware in CQC. Forget about Medium and Range but I do suggest that you practice with it. The reason I am talking about it is quite simple, it is the tool that counter slow reload times. Sometime, you need that extra bullet or two for a kill and the pistol delivers. Except for the NS-11A, in a CQC situation, I suggest that everytime you run out of ammo, you switch to pistol. Of course, if you have sufficient cover, reload... SMG I have both TR SMG but I wouldn't use any of them over my TRV, TAR or NS-11A. SIMPLE TACTICS Combat Tactics is something that mostly evolves with time and practice. I usually avoid going into that subject because, first, that's my edge and second, this is often a matter of opinion. Still, I found that my tips are usually good with newer players. Combat movement Movement will play a significant role in how easy you are to hit. It sounds silly right? However, if you zig zag while moving back, the further away you are, the less I need to adjust to shoot you. The closer you are, the harder it is to track your movements. However, moving forward can also play against you. You're basically running into bullets, which means that you'll die a microsecond faster. Jumping around is frown but useful in this game, you're actually harder to hit but don't expect to be a marksman while in mid air. So is strafing left and right the best solution? - Yep! It's enough movement to lower the accuracy by around 5% to 10% but trust me, that usually plays a huge roles in surviving a fight. Now the funny part is strafing, dead stopping and continuing to move. People tend to just automatically adjust to a situation but the moment you add a little wildcard, they screw up. Sprinting is not your friend. You should only sprint when you're 100% sure that no one is going to shoot you. I get most of my kills because by the time someone stops his sprint, re-position his aim and scopes, he's already dead. Now, I'm not saying that you should exclusively walk around with your scope on but you do want to stop and walk when you're about to enter a new room, pass a cover spot or vice versa. Cover For some reason, the word cover is a foreign concept. Just to name a few, here's a series of decent cover ideas: - Trees - Boxes - Crates - Columns - Fences - Pillars - Sunderers - Tanks - Friendly TR soldier - Hills Anywhere you go, there will be some sort of cover and it is important that you learn to stick near them. Even if it's for reloading, when you're not shooting, you should be in a position where enemy are from only a specific spot. I'll keep it short and stop this there but keep in mind that covering even 50% of your body is still better than nothing. It is after all, 50%
Hey Panda, I haven't really played with the SABR-13 except for a trial. Can't say much about it for now... I'll have a look in the VR to see if I would want to buy it.
NS-11A is a beast. That or the Pump Shotgun is the medic's best friend. That covers your short range, medium and long range with two guns. Although the NS-11A can do all three it falls short of the shotgun or GR22 in CQC.
