War Hospital is a real-time strategy game that stations players just behind the frontlines of World War I. Tasked with managing a hospital just behind the trenches in France, players will need to quickly learn how to properly utilize and upgrade staff members at the hospital to keep up with the flow of patients that gets worse as the game progresses and the war becomes more brutal.
Players will need to assign staff to the appropriate building and manage their fatigue levels by setting shifts if the hospital morale is to remain high enough to survive the war.
War Hospital: All Improvements (& Which To Upgrade First)
Upgrading is absolutely essential in War Hospital, and here are the improvements that should be made first.
All Personnel Types
There are seven types of personnel that players can hire to work at the hospital. Each personnel type provides a different function in the patient healing process, and players will need to properly balance hiring staff to manage their patients.
Doctors
There are three types of doctors players can hire to operate in each of the three wards that can be constructed at the hospital. Players will need to be mindful of the operation schedule in each of the three wards to prevent any doctors from collapsing and maintain hospital efficiency.
Surgeons
Surgeons conduct operations in the Surgery Ward, using Surgical Supplies. Players will start with one surgeon at the hospital and can acquire more by hiring them using staff permits or by rehabilitating a VIP. Players can increase the number of available surgeons by enhancing the Surgery Ward and can increase the effectiveness of surgeons by constructing improvements in the Healing Improvement Tree marked in red.
Trauma Specialists
Trauma Specialists use Stress Relievers to conduct operations in the Trauma Ward and will be necessary once the enemy forces begin firing artillery at the trenches near the hospital. Players will need to construct the Trauma Ward in the Healing Improvement Tree to unlock a slot to hire a Trauma Specialist.
Physicians
Specialists in chemical injuries and viral sickness, Physicians work in the Chemical Ward, using Reagents to conduct operations. Shortly after an attack where enemies use artillery, they will follow up with a gas attack that will send a platoon of injured troops to the hospital. Be sure to construct the Chemical Ward improvement, and make the ward more efficient by unlocking green improvements in the Healing Improvement Tree in preparation for this.
Medic Teams
Medic Teams transport patients throughout the hospital, depending on where assigned. When assigned to the Casualty Clearing Station, medics will move new patients into the CCS, from the CCS to the Operating Wards, and from the Operating Wards to the Rehabilitation Center.
Medics assigned to the Advanced Dressing Station will pull injured troops from the trenches to the ADS and then transport the patients to the CCS, while medics assigned to the cemetery will respond to any deceased patients in the whole hospital and take them for burial. It is wise to constantly monitor a Medic Team's fatigue level, as allowing any teams to collapse will impair players' ability to move patients through the hospital and the healing process.
Nurses
Nurses are support units that improve the healing capabilities of their assigned building. In the CCS, nurses will reduce the speed of patient condition deterioration, while nurses assigned to the Operating Wards will improve operational effectiveness and speed up operation time.
Players will always want at least one nurse assigned to the Rehabilitation Center, as a nurse is needed at the center for the patient to make progress toward recovery.
Engineers
Engineers are responsible for constructing new buildings and improvements as well as producing medical supplies, food, and alcohol rations. Players will want to increase their engineering staff as soon as possible to allow multiple engineers to be assigned to several different projects simultaneously.
Players will also get alerts throughout the game for side tasks that will require engineers to complete. As these side tasks are the best way for players to get staff permits, it is vital to ensure that engineers are used for these tasks when possible. Having a large engineering staff will prevent hospital upgrade progress from grinding to a halt when sending engineers on special assignments.
Scout Teams
Scout teams are the last type of staff that becomes available to players. Once Colonel Angus mentions that HQ wants to set up a scout tent, assign engineers to construct the improvement, and hire a scout team from the train station.
Scouts can be sent on missions from the scout map, awarding players with war permits and staff permits upon completion. Completing scout missions is the most reliable way for players to acquire staff permits, allowing for additional personnel to be hired.
War Hospital: How To Get Staff Permits
With this guide, War Hospital players will learn the best ways to acquire more staff permits and grow their hospital workforce with ease.
How to Set Shift Schedules
Once players unlock the shift schedule improvement from the Healing Improvement Tree, they can toggle a shift schedule by heading to the staff assignments tab. Players can individually set the schedule of a staff member by hovering over that staff member and tapping the shift input or toggle the entire building by holding the input (if playing with a controller). If using a keyboard and mouse, click on the 12H or 24H options in the slider at the top to change the building shift schedule, and click the shift designation above the individual staff member to toggle between the different shifts.
Once a shift schedule is set, players will need to spend less time managing the rest periods for engineers, medics teams, and nurses. Be sure to check in on the assignments tab every once in a while, as it is still possible for fatigue to build up on staff members even with the shift schedule, leading to eventual collapse.
Doctors and Scout Teams cannot be set on shift schedules, although Scout Teams do not have a fatigue bar and simply need to be assigned to missions on the scout map. Players will want to actively check the operation schedule in the CCS to assign rest times to doctors to prevent collapse.
Assigning Staff Based On Skills
As players progress through the chapters of War Hospital, the hospital staff will level up and gain access to skills that can increase the performance of that selected staff member or the staff members around them.
Certain skills will allow personnel to become significantly more effective at operating at a specific building. It is wise to assign staff to the buildings where they receive these skill benefits to maximize the usefulness of all personnel.
War Hospital is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
War Hospital: How To Assign Patients and Rests to Doctors
With this guide, War Hospital players will learn how to properly schedule operations and successfully heal as many patients as possible.
