Diseases have become arbitrary colony killers?

[thefinn]

Had 5 pawns working away... 1 comes down with plague.
2 hours later another then another and another....

Within 24 hours had only 1 pawn left (it used to take a few more days I think) after I had wasted huge amounts of medical supplies thinking that was the way to get them immunised (it used to also).

I don't necessarily mind I guess, but I think a vast reduction in the chances of getting plague (it's as common as flu) could be necessary if this is indicative of how the gameplay is meant to be.

Certainly lots of things do arbitrarily kill your colony - especially early on - so... but the change was kind of massive.

Edit: Thinking about it really, I'd like to see a vast reduction in a lot of the negative effects. So that they are more .. idk .. special (?).

[Boston]

In reality, disease were, and still are in fact, the #1 killer of humanity.

Rimworlds are shitholes, I don't people arguing for the lessening/removal of features understand that.

Diseases need to be lethal, and they need to be directly tied to cleanliness and the environment. Don't have clean rooms? Develop diseases. Have a bunch of swamps outside your house? Develop diseases.

[MikeLemmer]

What storyteller & difficulty were you using?

Also, Tynan pushed an update just a few hours that fixed a bug in them. He said it could result in some... screwy behavior for a few in-game days as they corrected the imbalance.

[deslona]

I had a pawn die of an infection despite getting medicine (in a timely manner). Have the infection calcs changed?

[MikeLemmer]

I had a pawn die of an infection despite getting medicine (in a timely manner). Have the infection calcs changed?

I think it just happens sometimes; the medicine doesn't halt the infection, it just slows it down enough for the pawn to become immunized to it before he dies. If a pawn is also missing a kidney, for instance (reducing his Blood Filtration), it's extremely hard for him to get immunized before the disease kills him, even if you constantly treat him.

[giannikampa]

Bed quality and the upgrade (can't remembere the name) matters too, as well as cleanliness of the room

[Shurp]

Doctor skill matters too.  Better treatment deducts from disease progression giving the colonist more time to acquire immunity.

Rimworld Plague is a fast disease, treat aggressively and keep pawns in bed.

[thefinn]

Yeah these guys died in 24 hours. Wasn't time for significant medical treatment. The plague has pretty obviously been changed.

It wasn't doing it in 13 in 24 hours even if you didn't give any medical assistance.

It still took like 2-3 days for them to die if memory serves.

There was a drop pod came down and I thought it would save me, but she was so bad at convincing the prisoner to join, she escaped and knocked my colonist out, stole her gun and walked off.

[stu89pid]

Hi,
I can't comment regarding a15 specifically, but regarding diseases, it sounds like there may be some recommendations we can give you.

1) Treat early and often: I see you commented that in the past, colonists could live over 24 hours before dying from infection. Don't do this! As soon as you are alerted tot he disease, have them go to the medical bed and treat immediately. And then treat them again as early as possible. Getting immunity before dying is how you beat an infection. Treatments are affected by many things (Medicine skill, bed quality, vitals monitor and bed type, type of medicine), so giving the pawn the best available treatment at the time will give you the best odds to keep them alive long enough to develop immunity.
2) Cleanliness: Make sure your hospital rooms have sterile flooring that is kept clean. This is huge in preventing infections and keeping them from spreading. My hospital rooms are all 1 patient/room which also helps, but you can get away with having two or three beds in one room. Having one colonist focused on cleaning and restricted to the "living quarters" can help greatly with this. I wish there was a way to get your pawn to prioritize keeping the medical room clean above all other rooms, but I can't figure out a way to do this without constantly changing their allowed zones.
3) If you fully understand the disease mechanics in the game and STILL feel they are too common and kill too many of your colonists, you are free to customize each game you play and adjust the skills related to medicine (Treatment, infections, etc) more to your liking. Personally, I think turning the diseases down would make the game a bit too easy, but the best part about Rimworld is that everyone can play games the way they enjoy and there is a scneario for everyone.

[keylocke]

i think i suggested before that acquiring diseases shouldn't just be random.

ie :

-if your pawn walks in a marsh there's a chance they'd get malaria.
-if your pawn stays too long in cold temperatures they could get a flu.
-if your pawn gets attacked by a mechanoid, they can get any variation of the mechanites disease.
-if a pawn gets attacked by a rabid animal, there's a higher chance that wounds are gonna get infected.
-if one of your pawns contracted a contagious disease, then the longer other pawns stay in contact with the infected or stay in the same room, the higher the chances they'd get infected too.
-raiders/tribals/visitors/animals can also get disease and transfer that disease to others.
-if your pawns get into contact or stay too long in the same room with an infected corpse or blood/puke spatter, then they have a chance of getting infected with the disease.
-etc..

diseases need to have an avoidable source instead of just totally random.

[Boston]

i think i suggested before that acquiring diseases shouldn't just be random.

ie :
-if your pawn stays too long in cold temperatures they could get a flu.

diseases need to have an avoidable source instead of just totally random.

You ...... you do realize that diseases aren't caused by temperatures, right? "A Cold" isn't caused by being cold, it is called the rhinovirus. "The Flu" is a disease called Influenza, and is a stupidly-lethal disease in real life.  Approximately 36,000 people die from Influenza per year in the US alone, and that is in a First World country with advanced medicine and medical aid within minutes. In 3rd World backwaters (sorry), Influenza kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people per year worldwide.

The "1918 flu pandemic" killed 50 to 100 million people worldwide, also known as 3-5 fucking percent of the total planetary population.

[ReZpawner]

Let's not perpetuate the falsehood that flu is spread by cold, shall we? It's a virus that spreads from person to person. The cold doesn't magically create it.

[ThiIsMe007]

Temperature affects the amount of water vapor that the air can hold. When the weather is warmer the air can hold more water vapor and there is more moisture present. Alternatively, when it's colder outside there is less water vapor in the air and thus less moisture is present.

Previous studies have shown that the flu survives and spreads better when the air is dry. This suggests that the flu might survive better when the humidity is low. Typically, humidity is lowest during the wintertime when the air is very cold and dry. These seasonal changes in humidity might explain why more people get sick from the flu during the winter.

source

Emphasis mine

[ThiIsMe007]

i think i suggested before that acquiring diseases shouldn't just be random.

I agree with you, and I'd definitely enjoy playing the game with your suggested changes.

I prefer it when a game challenges me to use my brain, instead of "challenging" me by simply throwing a couple of dumb dice.

[Boston]

Temperature affects the amount of water vapor that the air can hold. When the weather is warmer the air can hold more water vapor and there is more moisture present. Alternatively, when it's colder outside there is less water vapor in the air and thus less moisture is present.

Previous studies have shown that the flu survives and spreads better when the air is dry. This suggests that the flu might survive better when the humidity is low. Typically, humidity is lowest during the wintertime when the air is very cold and dry. These seasonal changes in humidity might explain why more people get sick from the flu during the winter.

And your immune system tends to get depressed in function when you are cold.

Doesn't mean that diseases are caused by cold temperatures. To suggest otherwise is asinine.

source

Emphasis mine