Disease
Note: This article is about treatable illnesses. For physical damage, see Injury. For other health conditions, see Ailments.
Colonists sometimes contract diseases. These can occur through random events that vary by biome and difficulty (except for infections, which have a random chance of developing from an injury).
Effects
Diseases cause infected colonists to suffer symptoms, which can vary from diseases to disease. Diseases progress through stages of intensity until either the colonist develops or the disease runs its course, usually leading to death. Diseases progression generally follows a pattern of minor -> major -> extreme. The more severe the disease, the more dramatic the symptoms.
Treatment
At regular intervals, a resting colonist can be treated by a doctor. This slows the progression of symptoms, and for most diseases it is very important to treat the colonist as often as possible. You cannot give a new treatment until the last one has expired, and you can see the remaining time by hovering over the disease in the colonist's health tab. The treatment interval varies for each disease.
Treatment Quality is determined by a variety of factors, including the doctor's skill and the quality of medicine used.
Immunity: Colonists will gradually develop immunity to some diseases, such as infections or plague. When immunity reaches 100%, the symptoms will not immediately disappear, but the colonist is safe and no longer needs any treatment. If the disease symptoms progress past "extreme" before immunity reaches 100%, the colonist will die. Immunity Gain Speed is affected by the colonist's food, rest, bed quality, age, and blood filtration.
Blood Filtration is a major factor in getting better from diseases. Poor blood filtration may result in sicknesses developing more than they would usually. Older colonists are more susceptible to sickness than younger ones. Colonists with only one kidney have their blood filtration reduced by 50%.
Diseases
Most diseases have the following:
- General Symptoms - initial symptoms that develop in the first few days of being sick.
- Advanced Symptoms - symptoms that set in when the disease progresses for any reason (eg. being untreated or gets worse).
- Treatment - some illnesses are treatable with medicine, but not all diseases are treatable.
Flu
Main article: flu
Plague
Main Article: PlagueThe Plague is a deadly disease that affects both humans and animals. It progresses at a fast rate, killing untreated creatures within days from discovery. It can be caught in any biome.
Overview
Plague is a disease that is rapidly fatal for humans. If left untreated, it kills in 1.5 days, but rest and good treatment can slow the disease to the point where it takes 3 days to kill. It takes around 2.121 days to develop immunity to the plague - assuming the affected colonist is rested in an ordinary bed for the whole time, has normal blood filtration, is well-fed, and under the age of 40. Animals are more resistant to the disease, but still need treatment.
A skilled doctor, medicine, and healthy Blood Filtration organs (kidneys and liver) are critical to survival. The bonus immunity gain speed could mean the difference between life and death.
Prevention
Penoxycyline prevents colonists from falling sick to the Plague, but does nothing to stop an infection already in progress.
Stages
Extreme (Initial) and Extreme (Advanced) both display as just "Extreme" ingame, but have different symptoms.
Minor
- +20% Pain
- −5% Consciousness
- −5% Manipulation
Major
- +35% Pain
- −20% Consciousness
- −20% Manipulation
Extreme (Initial)
- +60% Pain
- −30% Consciousness
- −30% Manipulation
Extreme (Advanced)
- +85% Pain
- −30% Consciousness
- −30% Manipulation
- −15% Breathing
- Death at 1 severity.
Progression
Stages
This disease is detected immediately. Severity goes up over time, and is slowed by treatment until immunity is reached.
- Minor - Severity: 0 - 0.59
- Major - Severity: 0.6 - 0.79
- Extreme (Initial) - Severity: 0.8 - 0.9
- Extreme (Advanced) - Severity 0.91 - 0.99
- Death - Severity 1
Humans
- When not immune, severity increases by 0.666 per day.
- When immune, severity decreases by 0.333 per day.
- Immunity increases by 0.5224 per day when sick.
- Treatment slows progression by a maximum of 0.3628 per day.
- This means the disease will progress by 0.3032 per day at 100% tend quality.
Animals
Animals can face the same disease, but their immunity increases faster, and treatment slows progression more.
- When not immune, severity increases by 0.666 per day.
- When immune, severity decreases by 0.333 per day.
- Immunity increases by 0.6092 per day when sick.
- Treatment slows progression by a maximum of 0.4254 per day.
- This means the disease will progress by 0.2406 per day at 100% treatment.
Treatment
Ensure the afflicted pawns get as much bed rest as possible by prioritizing 'Rest until Healed', and get them the best medical treatment available. For humans, treatment is administered once every 15 hours. For animals, treatment is administered every 48 hours (2 days).
On a constantly resting, well-fed pawn with 100% Immunity Gain Speed, you'll need at least 15% average treatment quality to slow the plague's progression down sufficiently so that it doesn't kill the victim.
Vulnerable
For humans with a base Immunity Gain Speed of 47% or less, there is no chance that they will be able to survive the plague normally, even with 100% treatment quality for all treatments and rest in a hospital bed with vitals monitor connected. This includes very old people over the age of 120, and some people with kidney and liver damage (physical or chemical). A colonist with poor rest or treatment quality may also be on the verge of death.
To save a colonist on verge of death, you can do the following:
- Administer healer mech serum - instantly treats the disease
- Administer luciferium - if pawn has 28% or more immunity gain speed remaining initially, this gives pawn a chance to survive
- Use the medic cycle of the Biosculpter pod
- if used early enough, the pawns can bring themselves to it
Malaria
Main Article: Malaria Malaria is a potentially fatal disease that can be contracted by colonists in any biome, but is frequent in the jungle.
Overview
General symptoms include impaired consciousness, blood filtration - and eventually pain, vomiting, and impaired manipulation. Advanced symptoms include frequent vomiting along with a loss of consciousness, and death. As Malaria affects blood filitration, the pawn's immune system becomes less effective as it progressive.
If left untreated, Malaria can kill the affected person in 2.701 days from discovery. It takes around 3.106 days to develop immunity to Malaria; assuming the affected colonist is rested in an ordinary bed for the whole time, has nothing else affecting blood filtration, is well-fed, and under the age of 40. These figures are calculated assuming 91.35% blood filtration (the 'average' blood filtration throughout all stages of the disease); due to Malaria's nature, there's no reliable way to calculate the time to develop immunity.
Prevention
Penoxycyline prevents colonists from falling sick to the Malaria, but does nothing to stop an infection already in progress.
Stages
Minor
- -10% Blood Filtration
- -5% Consciousness
Major
- Vomiting every 1.5 days (36 hours) on average.
- +30% Pain
- -20% Blood Filtration
- -12% Consciousness
- -8% Manipulation
Extreme
- Vomiting every 0.75 days (18 hours) on average.
- Loss of Consciousness
- +30% Pain
- -22% Blood Filtration
- -10% Manipulation
- Death at 1 severity .
Progression
Stages
This disease is detected immediately. Severity goes up over time, and is slowed by treatment until immunity is reached.
- Minor - Severity: 0.0 - 0.77
- Major - Severity: 0.78 - 0.9
- Extreme - Severity: 0.91 - 0.99
- Death - Severity: 1
Humans
- When not immune, severity increases by 0.3702 per day.
- When immune, severity decreases by 0.7297 per day.
- Immunity increases by a base rate of 0.3145 per day when sick.
- Treatment slows progression by a maximum of 0.232 per day.
Treatment
It's especially important that affected colonists are rested while they fight off Malaria due to its effect on Blood Filtration, and that you have plenty of medicine and a skilled doctor in hand. As with any other disease, you'll also want to make sure that the patient is well fed, rests as much as possible, and that they're promptly treated.
Treatment is administered once every 12 hours. On a pawn that constantly rests, with 100% pre-Malaria Immunity Gain Speed, you'll need at least 7% average treatment quality in order to sufficiently slow down Malaria's progress to the point where it doesn't kill the patient. With a hospital bed and vitals monitor, colonists can survive without treatment. However, this is far slower than treatment, even without medicine.
Vulnerable
For those with a base immunity gain rate of 37% or less, there is no chance that they will be able to survive malaria normally, even with 100% treatment quality for all treatments and rest in a hospital bed with vitals monitor connected. This includes people well past their Life Expectancy, and/or people with kidney and liver damage. Malaria can also be deadly if a pawn does not get enough treatment or rest.
To save the colonist, you can do the following:
- Administer healer mech serum - instantly treats the disease
- Administer luciferium - if pawn has 22% or more immunity gain speed remaining initially, this gives pawn a chance to survive
- Perform an organ transplant for pawns with damage to their liver or kidneys. There are no direct artificial replacements for these organs, so you will have to acquire a "donor".
- Install up to two immunoenhancers
for 8% per enhancer installed. Note that these require a kidney to be present for them to be installed into, so a transplant might be required if they are missing. Damaged kidneys are sufficient however. - Use the medic cycle of a Biosculpter pod.
- Place the patient in a cryptosleep casket until you have one of the above.
Version history
In an earlier version (Alpha 17?) sufficiently good treatment could cause malaria to regress. This combined with the fact that malaria had a hidden stage back then meant that the disease could be "cured" and subsequently reappear several times, until the pawn finally gains immunity.
Infection
Untreated wounds may get infected, causing a colonist to be mildly sick for a while. However, untreated infections can be fatal.
General Symptoms:
- Pain
Advanced Symptoms:
- Impaired consciousness
- Impaired breathing
- Unconsciousness
Treatment:
- Treated with medicine
- Treatment duration: 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)
- Can also be treated by amputating the affected body part
Sleeping Sickness
A parasitic disease carried by insects in the jungle biome.
It's notable that sleeping sickness takes a very long time to recover from.
General Symptoms:
- Impaired consciousness
- Impaired manipulation
Advanced Symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness
Treatment:
- Treated with medicine
- Treatment duration: 80,000 ticks (22.22 mins)
Gut Worms
A parasitic disease which doubles that rate at which colonists become hungry.
Can be contracted in the following biomes: arid shrubland, desert, extreme desert, boreal forest, tundra, temperate forest, and tropical rainforest.
General Symptoms:
- Increaser hunger rate (200% of base)
- Increased vomit rate (to average once per day)
Advanced Symptoms:
- None
Treatment:
- Treated with medicine
- Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
- Treatment count: 5
Muscle Parasites
A parasitic disease hampering the muscles.
General Symptoms:
- Impaired manipulation (-30%)
- Impaired movement speed (-30%)
Advanced Symptoms:
- None
Treatment:
- Treated with medicine
- Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
- Treatment count: 5
Fibrous Mechanites
A Mechanoid disease which brings mild pain in early stages but boosts several attributes.
General Symptoms:
- Tiredness (*170%)
- Mild pain (+0.2)
- Improved manipulation (+50%)
- Improved movement speed (+50%)
- Improved blood pumping (+50%)
Advanced Symptoms:
- Intense pain (+0.6)
- No additional stat boosts over early stages
Treatment:
- Treated with or without medicine, though medicine speeds up recovery
- Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
- Can disappear without treatment as early as 900,000 ticks (250 mins)
- Can last without treatment as long as 1,800,000 ticks (500 mins)
Sensory Mechanites
A Mechanoid disease which brings mild pain in early stages but boosts sensory perception.
General Symptoms:
- Mild pain (+0.2)
- Improved sight (+50%)
- Improved hearing (+50%)
- Improved talking (+50%)
- Improved manipulation (+30%)
Advanced Symptoms:
- Intense pain (+0.6)
- No additional stat boosts over early stages
Treatment:
- Treated with or without medicine, though medicine speeds up recovery
- Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
- Can disappear without treatment as early as 900,000 ticks (250 mins)
- Can last without treatment as long as 1,800,000 ticks (500 mins)
Disease Frequency
| Difficulty | Disease interval multiplier |
|---|---|
| Free Play | 3 |
| Basebuilder | 1.5 |
| Rough | 1.0 |
| Challenge | 1.0 |
| Extreme | 0.9 |