Medic Commander

 

Medic Commander
Health	550
Will gib when health is	-130
Attack Damage	Hyperblaster: 2 per bolt Summoned Strogg Revived Strogg
Drops	Cells
Found in	Ground Zero Call of the Machine
[Source]

“	If re-animating dead comrades and creating new enemies were not enough, this guy also fires an upgraded Blaster. Keep your eyes peeled for the S.O.B. He's itching to kick your butt!	”
—Ground Zero Manual

The Medic Commander is a new enemy introduced in Ground Zero. A drastically upgraded version of the original Medic, it has increased health and like the regular Medic it can revive the corpses of fallen Strogg. But by far the most significant upgrade is the Medic Commander's ability to summon new Strogg into battle at a moment's notice, creating squads of reinforcements out of nowhere. This ability makes the Medic Commander one of the most dangerous Strogg in the game, even though it doesn't have the most health or firepower itself.

With the 2023 remaster, Medic Commanders also appear in Call of the Machine.

Behaviour and attacks

Hyperblaster: The Medic Commander fires its hyperblaster in the same manner as the original Medic. It'll fire two shots and then a volley of twelve in quick succession, each bolt dealing 2 damage for a potential total of 28 damage. While the manual suggests that it is a more powerful weapon than that used by the Medic, and cosmetically it looks different, the two weapons actually deal the same amount of damage. In the 2023 remaster, the first two bolts deal 6 damage rather than 2, but it may forego the first two bolts and proceed directly to the rapid-fire.

Revive Strogg: Like the original Medic, the Medic Commander can approach the corpse of a fallen Strogg and revive it to full health. It cannot revive a Strogg if the corpse has been gibbed.

Summon Strogg: The Medic Commander can instantly summon new Strogg to the battle, causing them to appear by teleportation next to the Medic Commander. It will summon a maximum of four Strogg allies at once, but if any of those are killed then it can summon more, up to the maximum of four. See below for a list of the Strogg it can summon. The efficacy of its summoning depends on the difficulty level; on lower difficulty levels it tends to summon fewer Strogg at once, and generally the lower-tier Strogg on the list.

Reinforcements List

• Light Guard
• Shotgun Guard
• Machine Gun Guard
• Enforcer
• Gunner
• Medic
• Gladiator
• Hyperblaster Guard*
• Laser Guard*

*Call of the Machine only.

The Medic Commander is exempt from infighting; even if a friendly Strogg accidentally hits it, or vice versa, it doesn't cause them to infight. Furthermore, the Strogg summoned or revived by a Medic Commander are exempt from infighting too, and do not ever seem to drop ammunition when they are killed.

Strategies

• Given the Medic Commander' ability to instantly summon reinforcements into the battle at a moment's notice, the best strategy is to end the fight quickly, before it gets out of control. A direct hit from the BFG10K can kill a Medic Commander in one shot together with anything he summoned - and of all the places to save BFG ammo for, a Medic Commander encounter is top of the list. However, be advised that the BFG10K only deals full damage if the player is visible to the target when the projectile makes impact (see the BFG10K's own page for a more detailed description) - if the player does not remain in view of the Medic Commander when the projectile hits, not enough damage will be dealt to kill it in one go. Also, be advised that the Medic Commander might suddenly summon a Strogg between you and itself, getting in the way of the blast and causing the Medic Commander to survive, so be ready to fire again in case that happens. For the same reason, avoid getting too close to the Commander, so you don't take splash damage if your BFG projectile strikes a Strogg that suddenly materialised right in front of you.
• Another good option is the Railgun - four railgun shots will kill a Medic Commander in the original game (five in the 2023 remaster), and the Railgun has the advantage that the summoned Strogg won't block the shot - it'll just drill right through them and hit the Medic Commander regardless. Medic Commander encounters are also good times to use a Double Damage power-up, so you can put the beast down as quickly as possible - when under the effects of Double Damage, the Railgun will get the job done in two shots (three in the 2023 remaster). Alternatively, a sustained burst from the Chain Gun or Hyperblaster (preferably while under the effects of Double Damage) can dispose of a Medic Commander and its summoned Strogg fairly quickly - either of these weapons can kill a Medic Commander in a little over two seconds, without needing a damage boost power-up.
• Tesla Mines can be very useful against a Medic Commander, not just for their ability to cause damage but their distraction value and their ability to hinder enemy movement. If there's a narrow corridor between you and the Medic Commander, you can block it with a Tesla which can delay you getting swarmed by the numerous Strogg it summons. Even better, if you're able to approach the Medic Commander before it is aware of you, you can throw a Tesla (or more than one) close to it, and wait for it to activate and distract the beast, hopefully delaying its summoning of Strogg, and buy you enough time to aim a good BFG10K shot or prolonged stream of Chain Gun fire into the distracted Medic Commander. Even if the Medic Commander is already alerted to your presence, throwing a Tesla Mine between you can help to distract the oncoming reinforcements, allowing you to focus on the Medic Commander with your own firepower.
• The Defender Sphere is a power-up in Ground Zero which reduces incoming damage by 50% for thirty seconds, and while it's a good idea to save one for the Black Widow Guardian, Medic Commander encounters are good times to use them as well.
• While the Medic Commander will usually summon Guards, Enforcers and the occasional Gunner, it is possible for it to summon a Gladiator or Medic from time to time. Medics can be particularly problematic since a Medic can revive the Medic Commander if killed, allowing it to begin summoning all over again, so be ready to gib the Medic Commander in this scenario - or kill the Medic immediately after the Medic Commander. The Disruptor can be a good choice of weapon here, since any Strogg killed by it is automatically gibbed - preventing it from being revived.

Appearance statistics

Campaign	Easy	Medium	Hard/Nightmare
Quake II	-	-	-
The Reckoning	-	-	-
Ground Zero	20	21	26
Quake II PSX	-	-	-
Quake II 64	-	-	-
Call of the Machine	6	10	11

Bugs

• There is currently a bug involving Medic Commanders and Medics. If a Medic Commander summons a Medic and then the Medic Commander is killed, the Medic's behaviour may be affected by this bug - the Medic may repeatedly attempt to "summon" Strogg (which a Medic cannot do) as if it were a Medic Commander, mimicking the summoning animation and playing the summoning sound, but with no results.
• A rare bug can sometimes cause an idle Medic Commander to remain idle even after taking damage from the player.

Trivia

• If an enemy is revived by a Medic Commander, the player's kill count on the status screen remains unchanged. This means that a player does not need to kill the enemy again to achieve 100% kills, and it also means that an enemy might still be active even if the help computer shows that all kills are achieved.
• As of the 2023 remaster, a monster's corpse loses half of its durability each time it is revived (by a Medic, Medic Commander or Repair Bot). This doesn't affect the health of the living monster after it has been revived, but it does allow a player to gib it faster once it is killed again.
• The enemies spawned by a Medic Commander don't count towards the number of kills on your status screen or the final tally.

Gallery

Medic Commander's texture map

Medic Commander's texture map when injured