Opinions and effectiveness of Medivac?

[Nicol Bolas]

The cost definitely needs a revision (from what I hear, gas-heavy units didn't get much playtime over-all, especially against Protoss opponents...),

It's not just that. One of the advantages of the Medivac is that it's a base StarPort unit, so 1 Reactor later lets you double-pump it. Keeping it light on gas makes it possible to get quite a few of them out without having to go double-Port.

Plus, it's the only Terran transport. For pure minerals, the Zerg can pop their army up anywhere (Overlord + Nydus). For pure minerals, the Protoss can create units anywhere (I don't know the cost of Warp Prisms, but Pylons are still mineral-only). For the only Terran transport to require lots of gas is just silly.

[spychi]

Warp-in upgrade costs 50/50 mins/gas, warp prism 200 mins

[Pandonetho]

The Medivac is a cool unit if a little odd with the healing beam and what not (I don't get what the beam is supposed to be).

The thing is it's a great unit to compliment ground forces whereas the medic was also great but it was just something mandatory that you threw it. The opponent wouldn't bother deciding against targetting medics or marines, there was no point.

Now, there' sa bit more diversity to it.

[Iceman_jkh]

It's not just that. One of the advantages of the Medivac is that it's a base StarPort unit, so 1 Reactor later lets you double-pump it. Keeping it light on gas makes it possible to get quite a few of them out without having to go double-Port.

Further to this quote and a comment made about needing a critical mass of medivacs, what actually is the point/benefit of having them double pumpable or needing a critical mass? Also, how many is critical? I agree that double-pump is a nice thing, but for each Medivac you have, you get 4-8 infantry slots.

If medivac critical mass was 5 (for arguments sake), thats between 20 and 40 infantry units that you have on the field (not counting mech payload, which you probably cant afford/produce when trying to acheive a such a big payload of infantry). It seems like having that many infantry units would just about win most battles regardless, which means that when you go MASSIVE infantry drop (& go for a crit mass of medivacs) you get a powerhouse platoon, but otherwise (non crit mass medivac), its only a 'good' platoon. Kinda seems like it forces/pushes/encourages you all the way down the 'infantry path' if you chose to perform any kind of drop.

[Pandonetho]

Just because you build medivacs doesn't mean you have to have each one filled to the brim with infantry. They could just be there for the sole purpose of healing.

[pure.Wasted]

The Medivac is a cool unit if a little odd with the healing beam and what not (I don't get what the beam is supposed to be).

Most of the Marine's 40 HP constitutes armor. Think of the Medivac as an engineer-on-the-go. He "heals" the Marine by repairing his suit with nano-something-or-other.

[Aldrius]

The Medivac is a cool unit if a little odd with the healing beam and what not (I don't get what the beam is supposed to be).

Eh. Same thing the medic had just in beam-form, rather than... uh... whatever the heck the Medic did.

[Pandonetho]

Eh. Same thing the medic had just in beam-form, rather than... uh... whatever the heck the Medic did.

The Medic had actual on-site medical tools for healing, you know, the marine himself. Not the armour.

The medivac is a holy unit, as magic as those stone zealots that come to life without any seeming technology. That's the only explanation I see for it.

I guess floating nanites or whatever you wanna call it could make sense, but from a realistic standpoint (yes go flame me for liking some semblence of realism) it doesn't make sense for such an easy target to just hover above infantry targets and heal them with beams of nanites while enemies could easily fly a scourge into it, or shoot a rocket at it, or what have you.

I guess if we really get down to it, that could just be a game mechanic and realistically it lands and performs on site surgery to infantry units (where medics are in the medivacs with better equipment thus the doubled rate of healing).

[pure.Wasted]

The medivac is a holy unit, as magic as those stone zealots that come to life without any seeming technology. That's the only explanation I see for it.

Well, how do you imagine a Medic actually works? She waits for a guy to get sliced in half by a Zealot psi-blade and then glues him together with medicine?

Repairing the suit makes far more sense than repairing the Marine inside it. Blizz has made it very clear in novels and other materials that the weapons used, even the Marine's basic Gauss rifle, rip human bodies apart as easily as with two slugs. An actual field surgeon would have very little work to do, because not only would she have to get through the damaged armor to the guy inside, how many of those Marines are actually going to be salvageable after the sort of things that go on in SC2?

As for it being a prime target for Scourge -- really, would a Medic be any different? There's no reason the Scourge can't just plummet to the ground and slam into a squad of infantry.

[Pandonetho]

Yes, those are for non-armoured soldiers that get torn apart.

For marines, firebats, whatever, a slug/spine/arm-scythe could easily penetrate the armour and injure/wound the marine, even severely, without killing him.

And then according to the wiki.

Medic tools have been expanded to chemical modifiers increasing marine survival rates and the use of nano-conveyed anesthetic and attenuated lasers to carry out on-site surgery.

They will heal the marine.

As for it being a prime target for Scourge -- really, would a Medic be any different? There's no reason the Scourge can't just plummet to the ground and slam into a squad of infantry.

Yes, a medic would be different. Tell me what's the difference between a tall profile tank and a low profile tank?

A big ass hovering craft with giant red crosses on it is going to be a much easier target for EVERYONE than a medic, who's much cheaper and expendable.