Medics - Specialist vs Vehicle Specialist

[kerrygray8]

Hi folks,

Just something for discussion - whilst constructing a selection of forces I discovered that it consistently cost more points to create a Gruntz Specialist (i.e on foot) who was a medic, than it cost to create a Vehicle Specialist with the medic Perk. This was particularly apparent in my Human near-future force, where I initially created a Vehicle Specialist to represent a Motorbike-mounted medic, and subsequently created an Infantry medic which cost more points (and has a Mental stat so is subject to morale effects and cannot move as quickly as the medic on the bike!).

I will probably house-rule this to make the Vehicle Specialist Medics more expensive, but I just wondered if either (a) I've been doing something wrong in my unit building; or (b) others have also encountered this and come up with a 'fix'?

Cheers!

[masterchief]

I built out a medic on foot and a medic on a motor bike and the medic on foot is 15 points while the bike is 17 (most medics don't have weapons so I left Shoot and Assault at 3, Guard 11, Soak 12, Mental 8 and Skill 5 with Damage 5 and no weapon; for the vehicle spec Damage 5, Skill 5, Mobility Motor Bike, no weapon). The points are a bit strange in places and if you start to dig you will notice some discrepancies in how the points break. For example, I was trying to build out some Spartans as specialists using Art Crime's Port Reliant Mercs. I built one out with a spec heavy plasma and then went to build out one with a plasma rifle and because the weapons both cost exactly the same the specialists cost the same, despite their weapon profiles and effect on the battlefield being completely different (I only changed the weapon, all other stats stayed the same).

You could try to fix it by increasing the base cost for vehicle specialists by a few points, but keep in mind then the vehicle specialist might be over-costed compared to other vehicles. Another way would be to increase the base cost for vehicles across the board by a few points, so vehicle specialists have a significant cost increase versus their bonuses (faster movement, not subject to morale) and the points remains consistent across all vehicles built.

[kerrygray8]

Thanks for your thoughts Masterchief.

I have built my Medics to have identical stats and equipment to their 'parent' units, so they are probably a few points more than some people's Medics (usually around 20 - 25 points for a foot-based Medic in my various forces).

I know the points system is a guideline more than anything else, and - probably like many others - I am having to explain to my friends from WH40K backgrounds that although they CAN abuse the points system they really SHOULDN'T if we all want to have a fun and competitive game (this started after one of our first games where my opponent had given virtually all his troops Shoot 6 and Missile Launchers..........).

Anyhow, I digress........... with regards to motorbike Medics, I have decided to build them using the General Specialist points costs (including having a Mental stat and variable Shoot / Assault / Skill stats) and then adding on some extra points for the mobility that the motorbike allows.

We've also decided to limit forces to 1 Medic per 100 points; and no Medic option at all for certain forces (e.g. Xenomorphs.....).