Just been going over the details of the update since we have now cleared the chaos of a double credit event.
The new education hasn't been a issue here plenty of courses on the go and I will have staff in every station trained for Ambulance Officer.
The one issue is locking ambulance officer to the mass casualty extension, this is a bit of a pain especially as they are avaliable in HRLs. I take it this is a mistake? Just now I am planning on building HRLs and housing Ambulance Officers in them but don't want to end up losing them if it is a mistake.
Next the Mass Casualty Unit, this is a great idea but feel it may be a little too realistic for the game. (And also unrealistic to an extent).
Mass Casualty units are very rare in UK they are generally part of a resilience plan for NHS Trusts. Some trusts will have 1 or 2 units that may fit this sort of category but some have none. So having the limit is good in this sense but it will be a problem for some of us (I'll explain in a bit)
From what I have seen and researched in to how mass casualty incidents are handled in the UK, it focuses around working at scene using a triage system. Where there would be 1 or more assessment points that will have patients that are "walking wounded" assessed to see could they be treated on scene and left to go home/make own way to further care. If hospital visit is needed then they would be placed in a patient transport ambulance. There are often brought in to major multiple casualty incidents. They are also used at times to ferry extra staff and supplies if needed. Yes the MCU sort of covers this but not in a true fashion of how it is done in parts of the UK. So would have been good to reflect this in the game. Any patient who couldn't mobilise themselves would be a traditional ambulance transport.
We could easily of had the MCU required as it is plus have PTS provided to be the transport side of it. It would have been a bit more realistic and also help make incidents more manageable. The MCU could be sent to scene first and then it could trigger x amount of PTS needed.
Now, the realism is great in that players are limited to what they can have of the MCU. 1 for every 15 stations for premium players and 20 for standard. This is good but I feel will pose a massive headache for some.
There are several of us who play multiple areas some even multiple countries. As such due to the restrictions will be very limited in MCU cover.
Myself I cover Scotland, I currently can only have 3 MCU which will most likely not be enough, especially on days where I play a lot and get a very busy game. I can have several major calls on the go at once going from Aberdeen to Glasgow. What I fear is that once I add in at the 3 locations I will struggle majorly as in could be in Aberdeen other in Edinburgh and the final one in Glasgow. I could then generate a call in Stirling, Perth or even out in the rural area around Loch Lomand or even have all 3 units down in the central belt and I get calls up on the Moray Coast. It would be better if the limit was 1 for every 10 for premium and 1 for every 15 for standard. This would allow a little more flexibility for us and given that the game doesn't spawn calls realistically it would make it more manageable.
Basically we all know playing realistic units is near impossible, playing realistic station locations is somewhat possible but having realistic call spawning is not as we do that then game will become boring, so if we need to sacrifice a wee bit of realism to improve game playability it would be fine. As really do think that if this is left many players may just lose interest.