The defensive medic: An extension to Circuitous' post

[Thor-Stryker]

Its actually hilarious to play D-Spy on competitive servers where they ban that stuff. When you've mastered air turning, ramp rooms and other spots where medics and scouts are forced to run through make for easy backstabs. They scream and whine when you repeatedly zap them in the back.

Also, your necromancy is like no-other.

[Peon]

As long as everybody else is being a johnny-come-lately on this thread, I might as well get in on it. On the subject of the defensive ( TFC ) Medic I'm going to have to say yes you can do it. I mean, the simplest argument for is that sooner or later every player had to play D in some facet. Every team should have a Medic on it, so if the whole team turtles, then the Medic will turtle with them.

One advantage of a Medic on D is the ability to lay chase to anyone who slips by the first line. A Demo can run pretty fast, but the nade launcher isn't very effective on guys running away from you. If you don't kill an enemy Demo/Medic/Spy/Scout on their way by you, and you're a Heavy or Soldier, you can forget about catching them. The Medic, on the other hand, can pursue them while blasting away with the super nail gun or super shotgun. Even when they're on the way out of your fort with the flag, you can tail them out and kill them. Oh, and concing Heavys/Soldiers/Demos trying to get in your fort is mucho effective, and I wouldn't use a scout to do it.

The biggest argument against the Medic on D is that it would be a waste of resources. The functions of the Medic on offense far outweigh his abilities on D. Personally I think the most effective thing a Medic can do isn't flag running, but rather be the enemy's personal harrasment squad. I would even go so far as to say that a stealthly Medic inside the the enemy fort can wreak 2x the havoc a Spy can. For one he can survive indefinitely by hiding and healing, plus he can heal other teamates who make it in after they survive entry and surley need it. A good Medic can also dismantle an enemy defense, by nailgunning SGs and assassinating Snipers. Snipers especially come to dread the harrasment Medic for their ability to sneak up and waylay them while their aiming. Even if a Sniper is able to retaliate, rarely can he kill the Medic. The same goes for Spies, if a Medic sees one suiting up (or tries to heal him) he can nip that problem in the bud seeing as he overpowers him. If you kill a Spy enough times, you may even be able to piss him off to the point where he changes classes to deal with you. The Medic overpowers the Engy one on one, and he can even stand toe-to-toe with the Demo. The only fear is Soldiers and Heavys, but even then you have succeeded in at least delaying them from the offensive push. If you can conc them you might even be able to kill them.

Hell, and I didn't even get into poisining the shiite out of the enemy, and causing a mini-plauge inside their fort. This is especially humorous if no one on thier team is a Medic. Most of the time the enemy team doesn't realize that you are doing this, and thinks that you're there to grab the flag, which you can if you want to try. Moreover, the threat that you are trying to grab the flag is enough to cause a team to turtle. If they can't kill you but are always fighting you then they will leave their fort less. Hell, they might even dedicate a guy or 2 just to keep you from getting in. It's funny to think that a Medic inside an enemy's fort is like a hard to kill disease inside a body. Even if you cure it once, you have to be careful or it can reoccur and continue to rot you from the inside out. Creepy huh?

Incidentally this tactic is good D.

[Zaskar]

There should be no restrictions on official matches, its just dumb. If people think its less effective then it will be to that teams disadvantage to have one, why disallow it.

And if its a Pub, people need to just shuddup, people can do what they wish. Wanna reach through the internet and punch people who bitch about chasing or stuff like that in a Pub, and its usually the other team too just whining that their getting killed.

Why is chasing not allowed? its not as effective as holding a spot, soooooo then doing it in itself is the punishment, no need to disallow it.

I swear they just get a big group of losers together to try to make as many rules for the hell of it as possible for those clan matches.

[Ihmhi]

Originally Posted by Zaskar

There should be no restrictions on official matches, its just dumb. If people think its less effective then it will be to that teams disadvantage to have one, why disallow it.

Infecting enemies once they are in your base to soften them up for fr D.

Infected enemies (sans Medics) will probably not survive getting the flag out of base.

[Jiggles]

Assuming you can even infect them, they really die too slow for that to be effective. Much better to just shotty/grenade them low/dead. Plus, in TFC, at least half the O will be medics, so, good luck infecting them

It's going to be interesting to see how good a Medic is on defense in TF2.

[Thor-Stryker]

well considering the medic will finally be playing a support role, he will probably be best suited to Turtle D, or Support Offensive.

On defense he can heal team mates, so if theres a constant barrage (Which usually happens with Turtle D) he will be great support.

On offense, its just like the video, he heals his team mates and gets SUPAR INVICIBALESZ

[Peon]

I just thought of a good reason why reducing the Medic's offensive role is less effective. If you are defending your fortress, then medical supplies are readily availiable all over the place. A Medic isn't vitally needed there unless someone gets poisoned. Even if a defender dies they can just respawn fully loaded. If a Medic just happens to be present at base from a respawn or flag run return, then a little aggresor chasing can be helpful.

However, it seems clearer to me now that a (Combat)Medic's role is to assist other troops in the field. Healing teamates during and after encounters is where they're most neccasary. A good Medic can kick arses as well as save them. You can't bring them back from the dead, like in BF2, but their role placement remains with a squad.

It's curious to note that the Medic's offensive abilities are rumored to have been reduced in TF2, and myself being an avid TFC Medic player I'm not very excited about it. It will be interesting to see just how much a TF2 Medic can help in attacking. I know they can do an invulnerability charge, but we'll see how long that remains entertaining.