Penoxycycline: What does it do?

[Hans Lemurson]

It says it is supposed to prevent diseases and infections, and it adds immunity to plagues, but it doesn't seem to do anything for you know infections.  I applied penoxycycline to an injured pawn with an infection that was greatly outstripping his immunity, but it seemed to do all of nothing. 

Am I not using it properly, or am I a fool who cannot read some important detail?

[Anonymous_Captain]

It says it is supposed to prevent diseases and infections, and it adds immunity to plagues, but it doesn't seem to do anything for you know infections.  I applied penoxycycline to an injured pawn with an infection that was greatly outstripping his immunity, but it seemed to do all of nothing. 

Am I not using it properly, or am I a fool who cannot read some important detail?

It prevents infections, not cure them

Think of it like a vaccine that expires over a few days

[Hans Lemurson]

So if I give my pawns a dose of penoxycycline before they go into battle, they won't develop infections when my doctor doesn't patch up their burnt and mangled flesh in time?

[Mehni]

No.

Penoxy only provides protection against infections such as malaria, sleeping sickness, and plague. Nothing else.

Penoxycycline offers true immunity to plague & sleeping sickness for 12 hours, and malaria for 8 hours. After that period, it reduces the probably of that particular pawn getting sick (diseases cannot be acquired at 60%+ immunity, and Penoxy sets it to 61%, so there is a brief time before it decays below the threshold)

The weird part is that the game first picks how many pawns will get sick, regardless of immunity, and then next picks which pawns get sick, weighted by immunity. If only one of your pawns has taken penoxy, and took it 24 hours ago, that pawn is 1/50th as likely to get sick as the other pawns. But if all of your pawns have taken it 24 hours ago, they're all just as likely to get sick and the same number of pawns total will get sick. But they'll still be starting at 59% immunity, pretty much guaranteeing survival, and a very short period of actual sickness. (A young, healthy pawn will be at 90%+ immunity when the plague/sleeping sickness is revealed; malaria never revealed at all).

For plague & sleeping sickness, I would not recommend Penoxycycline prophylaxis for all healthy pawns; it can be taken reactively and still add 30%+ immunity, eliminating the need for bed rest or treatment to survive (and if treatment is provided it won't reach serious stages).

Malaria does need proactive Penoxycycline. A healthy pawn will develop 55% immunity in the 4.6 days it takes to reveal itself, so reactive penoxy only adds 5%. Penoxy taken every 5 days will maintain a minimum of 46% immunity to malaria, so healthy pawns will never have a visible Malaria infection. But taken every 9 days, a healthy pawn will still develop immunity before malaria hits Major severity without any treatment or bed rest. A solo jungle explorer looking to conserve their supply might stretch it out to every 12 days (which will avoid extreme without any treatment or bed rest), or if they're particularly brave/desperate, every 15 days (but then there is a small risk that bed rest will be necessary). Taken every 20 days, Penoxy offers no guaranteed immunity, but on average will cut off 2.5 days before immunity is acquired.

[Agent00Soul]

The weird part is that the game first picks how many pawns will get sick, regardless of immunity, and then next picks which pawns get sick..


This is one of the biggest problems with the events.. Sickness should be cause driven not completely RNG..
1 in 10 pawns being immune from infection should reduce the number of pawns that get sick by 10% not just shift the sickness onto others. It doesn't make sense.

[Thyme]

To me, it seems like diseases will always infect 50% of your population, which also doesn't make sense. You can check the xml yourself: RimWorld1393Win\Mods\Core\Defs\Incidents\Incidents_Disease.xml

[FalconBR]

Thanks for all that info, It is so good I had to put it on the Wiki!

[grinch]

To me, it seems like diseases will always infect 50% of your population, which also doesn't make sense. You can check the xml yourself: RimWorld1393Win\Mods\Core\Defs\Incidents\Incidents_Disease.xml

uhh no, i had 6 pawns with plague and its a 35 man colony

[Thyme]

Well, that's interesting, I never had that.
Those 35 people, is that just one colony or your whole faction?

[TheMeInTeam]

It does nothing for wound infections that I can see.

It will set your immunity to 61%.  For diseases other than malaria, taking it the second they appear will prevent you dying and allow you to live with minimal bedrest.  Malaria you get rekt, unless you take it on a regular cycle.  Once per 12 days should keep you alive.  Your immunity gradually decreases after taking it, but if you put someone on it 1/season you'll rarely even need bedrest, since you'll block the proc outright or have way more advanced immunity than usual when it appears.

You don't need penoxy for luciferium pawns at all.

This mechanic is fine after 1-2 seasons where attaining penoxy is realistically possible.

[travin]

You have to give it to them regularly for it to be useful, it's a prophylactic. If memory serves, you have to dose them every 5 days.

However, it won't always prevent pawns from catching plague,  malaria, etc. Though it will give them a significant immunity advantage. The last time I had a pawn catch plague while on penoxycline, the infection was 33% and immunity began at 86%. A drastic difference from unprotected numbers.

[Serenity]

The last time I had a pawn catch plague while on penoxycline, the infection was 33% and immunity began at 86%. A drastic difference from unprotected numbers.

You still get that if you give it to them once after they already caught it

[Hans Lemurson]

I don't mind if my pawns have to spend some time sick in bed, I just want them to not die from treatable conditions.

[Limdood]

step 1: the game decides to give you a disease event - YOU GET NO NOTIFICATION.

step 1a: the game gives the disease to random pawns.  I have heard that it drastically favors pawns without penxycyline active, though i'm not sure.  I do know that the disease is given to them and starts progressing, as does immunity.  This all happens with no notification and no info on the health screen.

Step 2: once the disease gets to a certain %, which happens at the same time for all pawns affected, the event notification pops up.  You can then see the disease effects on the pawn health tab.

IF a pawn takes penoxycyline between step 1 and step 2, they will still have the disease, but the immunity will jump to 61%...you will still get no notification until the disease gets to the % necessary to trigger the notification. 

It is also why pawns all have slightly (or in the case of old or luciferium'd pawns VASTLY) different immunity levels when the notification triggers, as they will be of different ages and have spent slightly differing times in bed. 

It is ALSO the reason that reloading the last autosave will still see the same pawns getting sick at the same time...because the ACTUAL event happened a while ago.

the person who got 6 out of 35 colonists sick MAY have had several pawns with luci, who hit 100% immunity before the disease progressed enough to notify.  But that's just a guess.