Bandages don't really matter for frostbite, so why use them?

[REMworlder]

The problem is doctors waste valuable medicine treating frostbite when it isn't needed. I don't think I've ever gotten frostbite infections unless the wound has been completely ignored; non-medicine "poor quality bandaging" has worked 100% of the time.

For my last few games I've started forbidding medicine because otherwise it gets wasted on random frostbite cases. Instead of requiring players to micro to save their medicine from being wasted on frostbite, why not stop doctors from using it in the first place?

[LittleGreenStone]

The problem is doctors waste valuable medicine treating frostbite when it isn't needed. I don't think I've ever gotten frostbite infections unless the wound has been completely ignored; non-medicine "poor quality bandaging" has worked 100% of the time.

For my last few games I've started forbidding medicine because otherwise it gets wasted on random frostbite cases. Instead of requiring players to micro to save their medicine from being wasted on frostbite, why not stop doctors from using it in the first place?

Balancing would be the main reason I assume, but even if it wasn't: that's not how it works.
Minor, first degree frostbite (or "frostnip") can be treated with some warm water, sure, but more serious tissue damage require excessive treatments, not just some bandages.
Pretty much everything after first degree frostbite requires the area to be wrapped in dry dressings, with dressings between fingers/toes to keep them separated, drugs such as narcotic analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics or even tetanus, to treat pain and prevent infections.

In short; it DOES require medicine, which in RW only increases the efficiency of the treatment, if I'm not mistaken. Be happy it isn't an absolute requirement, because that would make more sense, to be honest.

[Kegereneku]

You also risk infection from any open wound, especially caused by animal.

Since herbal medicine is cheap and accomplish the same effect as medicine (I also forbid the better one), I don't have much interest in another separate "bandage" you have to produce and store.
(edit : rereading I realize no one talked of using bandage, please don't mind the comment)

[REMworlder]

Be happy it isn't an absolute requirement, because that would make more sense, to be honest.

Yeah IRL is definitely different. I'd be fine if medicine was absolutely required for frostbite (especially if balance is the issue), but right now it isn't needed and it's wasteful to use. The mechanic should change at some level, and I think a **simple** change would refine it.

The healing bonus of using medicine (the only reason to use it on frostbite right now) isn't even especially great, especially since frostbite has such a minor debuff. Honestly I could probably just sell all the medicine I'd use on frostbite bandages and buy chocolate or beer with it to get a better overall buff for the colony. It just adds unnecessary micro for any player who doesn't want to waste expensive medicine, especially early game.

[LittleGreenStone]

Be happy it isn't an absolute requirement, because that would make more sense, to be honest.

Yeah IRL is definitely different. I'd be fine if medicine was absolutely required for frostbite (especially if balance is the issue), but right now it isn't needed and it's wasteful to use. The mechanic should change at some level, and I think a **simple** change would refine it.

The healing bonus of using medicine (the only reason to use it on frostbite right now) isn't even especially great, especially since frostbite has such a minor debuff. Honestly I could probably just sell all the medicine I'd use on frostbite bandages and buy chocolate or beer with it to get a better overall buff for the colony. It just adds unnecessary micro for any player who doesn't want to waste expensive medicine, especially early game.

True, and if you want a laugh, the primary doctor of my current colony, skill of 20, enhanced with biotics, does NOT need medicine of any kind to give my colonists the best possible treatment.
The 2nd one, still learning (and waiting for biotics upgrade) does need medicine even for the smallest wounds.

In case anything happens to my first, my second would need the medicine,
and while forbidding medicine wouldn't affect my first at all, it would most likely ruin the treatments my 2nd gives.
Micro is needed for me, I was thinking about it but I could came up with no easy solution how I could forbid the use of medicine for one doctor, and allow it for another.

Perhaps...if the game would look at the effectiveness of the doctor in question
(including manipulation, sight and the actual medicine skill),
and the wound, it could calculate the effectiveness of the treatment without medicine
-if that results in an acceptable value, in a "proper" or "good" treatment, it'd forbid the use of medicine, but if it would result in "improper" or "poor" treatment
(which may result in permanent, unhealable damage, infections, and overall reduced healing rate)
it'd force the use of medicine.

That would make skilled doctors use far less medicine, while force beginners its use, which would be good for the use of medicine gives an XP boost too.

However I am not sure...or rather, I highly doubt it'd be easy to implement.

[REMworlder]

It's good to see thoughts on the medical system as a whole, but I do want to clarify I'm just talking about frostbite.

while forbidding medicine wouldn't affect my first at all, it would most likely ruin the treatments my 2nd gives.

For frostbite, as long as you simply treat it, even if it's "0% quality" and the colonist treating has 0 medical skill, there will be no effects. And that's what bugs me about having to micro medicine around it :/