Medical Gameplay Issues

[Boggle08]

1 minute ago, Hunt said:

What if, in the CMOs office is a locked wall locker that starts with 4x of every basic medicine and 1x of some advanced medications and the locker is called 'Emergency Medical Stock'. Which chemists/players can ignore if chemists are on-duty and can be used for the frequent rounds without a chemist. This ensures pharmacists still have a slot and can restock the missing emergency supplies, surgeons will not be obsolete as only the basics will be there, physician won't have chemistry access but will have the medicines to make them useful.

I'm fine with that as long as the number of bottles of each basic med is reduced down to three, and we limit the organ regeneratives mostly just to peridaxon and alkysine. You're a physician. If you don't have pneumalin, you can fix it yourself. If there is heart damage, you can sieve in peridaxon and put the person into the cryotube to compensate.

Any chemistry package that's more thorough than that should really be something that has to be ordered through cargo.

[VisVirific]

The fundamental core problem that causes the reliance of chemistry to a point of such being a cornerstone are the mechanics of damage itself.

While Aurora has done away with hard number readings on most UIs, injury is just a set of numbers whose most efficient way of treating is to use a chemical which will directly reduce it back to nothing with exceptions to Bone Breaks, Tendon Breaks, Mycosis, Shrapnel and Organ Necrosis, which you'll also note are treatable via surgery. An example that better outlines the problem is how you can easily remove someone's liver and kidneys, hook them up to an IV with Dylovene and watch as the green chemical constantly reduces what should've been a fatal circumstance of unfiltered toxins in the bloodstream to nothing at all with no consequences whatsoever as long as there's a steady supply of Dylovene.

Another example is how you can get someone with Significant Trauma with severe bleeding and put some Bicaridine and it heals the muscles and seals the bleeds (albeit slower than clicking them with gauze/ATKs) like nothing happened. You'll also note that Bicaridine/Butazoline/Tricordrazine/Gauze/ATKs do not close up Surgical Incisions. Because Surgical Incisions, although they do some damage and forced bleed (if not with an IMS or Laser Scalpel), are a unique condition that specifically requires cauterization to treat.

While BrainMed has changed the priority to "Make sure the Brain doesn't hit the damage number limit, which increases because of X/Y/Z", our injuries still feel like we're in PointMed, which Chemistry as is treats better than most since both chems and damage are that abstract. We do not have an injury system which complements BrainMed. Our injury system is still Damage Numbers with some exceptions.

So calling for the dissolution of the Chemist role because of a faulty system feels to me, another Pharmacist Main, like trying to dumb Medical down.

 

Ramke's Operations Medicine Package seems like a better solution, like how Medical has several first aid kits of various types in the storage as basic equipment, or similar to the Combat Kit in which it contains pill bottles of specific chemicals. The Medicine Package could have specific liquid bottles and specific pills, and be made just expensive enough to dissuade only one person from buying in bulk. Maybe with 1x Pill Bottle of 10u 6x Bicaridine, 1x Pill Bottle of 10u 6x Kelotane, 1x 60u Liquid bottle of Dexalin Plus, and maybe a a premium Medicine Package with 1x 60u Liquid Bottle of Peridaxon, 1x 20u Alkysine, and 2x Autoinhalers with Pneumalin.

Either that, or the CMO wall locker thing, with 3x Liquid Bottles of Bicaridine, Kelotane, Dexalin Plus, 1x Peridaxon, and maybe 1x Alkysine.

 

As for Chemists/Pharmacists having nothing to do after the initial production, that's a problem that's pretty much everywhere besides Security, Operations (not Mining), and most recently Engineering, has. Engineering used to only need to set the Engine and maybe Shields and then they had nothing to do besides waiting for something to damage the place, or get a project approved for rapid reconstruction. Mining is mostly getting resources for Science and nothing else. Everyone else of Medical, much like Security, is Waiting For Something To Happen. Which sometimes may never happen, and in turn causes the production itself to never have been needed at all, but it was still something to do.

As for the mechanics of Chemical Production itself, it'd need a more nuanced approach to consider, because the knee-jerk solution would be to make it more intricate, only that could worsen the lack of pharmacists if it's too complicated, or cause the "You're not as good as X is" attitude that's a constant worry for Medical to get worse. Although Chemical Production Mechanics should probably have it's own dedicated thread.

[RisingValiant]

The problem with the reliance on chems is that chems are the only effective means of treating low oxygen quickly and are also the only real way to make someone who's going to die soon die less soon. Dexalin plus is the most important chem that a chemist makes, because oxygen deprivation is generally the thing that kills the brain. Everything else is manageable but there is no quick and portable means of treating oxygen loss other than chemicals, what this ends up meaning is if someone is dying cause of a ruptured lung, there isn't a way to make that happen slower that isn't dexalin plus and inaprovaline administered through injection, or pneumalin. which means a lot of people die on the way to medical.

[EJJ]

On 04/05/2022 at 11:56, Confused rock said:

TLDR; my qualifications are dubious but maybe just remove the busywork entirely and give medical free stock of the important chems. Then pharmacist will be more attractive as your first 30 minutes of the round won't be agony.

I would absolutely love if med spawned with a handful of the basic stuff. I don't need 4000000 copies of everything so pharmacy is useless but at least 2 pneumalin autoinhalers would be a godsend. I've had so many rounds where we wheel someone into med and watch them slowly die over 5 minutes while everyone prays for a pharmacist to arrive.

[LordPwner]

So- as a pretty hardcore med player- my last week has been basically all day med as Zane. There are two things that could be done here:

 

1.) Prestock the fridge with some basic meds, or enough that if it's rationed, medical may not need a chem that round

2.) Allow Physicians and arguably surgeons to make basic meds, they already make Tricord with Inaprov-Dylo, Regen Muscle with Pen and Inaprov- I don't see the problem of the lighter medicines being made by them and then harder stuff, both production and administration (to give them something to do if they want) be handled by themselves. Unless there is an active queue of people who need prescription, which doesn't happen anymore, your first 15-30 is made meds, then just hang out and restock as supply/time allows. Not much else to do.