Ailments

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Ailments are health conditions that cannot be treated completely using medicine alone. For physical damage, see injury. For treatable conditions, see disease.

"MTB" stands for "Mean Time Between", and is how it's presented in the game files.

Some conditions can give rise to other conditions; the risk of this happening will diminish if the condition is treated.

Most permanent ailments are curable with body part replacements or usage of the healer mech serum.

Chronic

Ailments that come with age. Either non-fatal, or progresses extremely slowly towards fatality compared to infectious diseases.

Alzheimer's

A brain disease usually associated with aging. Alzheimer's disease causes progressive degradation in the ability to think and remember. Patients are known to forget close relatives and sometimes wander around in confusion.

Alzheimer's progresses by 0.003 per day, meaning that it will take 333.33 days for it to reach full severity from when it first appears.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Alzheimer's (minor)	≥0% severity	-5% part efficiency Confused wandering (MTB of 12 days) Forget memory (MTB of 7 days)
Alzheimer's (minor)	≥20% severity	-10% part efficiency Confused wandering (MTB of 9 days) Forget memory (MTB of 4 days) 0.15% of conditional thoughts nullified
Alzheimer's (major)	≥50% severity	-15% part efficiency Confused wandering (MTB of 7 days) Forget memory (MTB of 2 days) 0.5% of conditional thoughts nullified
Alzheimer's (major)	≥80% severity	-20% part efficiency Confused wandering (MTB of 4 days) Forget memory (MTB of 0.8 days) 1% of conditional thoughts nullified

A human pawn can first get Alzheimer's at age 34.

Alzheimers chance

Asthma

A chronic health condition where inflammation causes the airways to narrow, restricting the flow of oxygen to the lungs. Unlike other chronic diseases, asthma can be contracted at almost any age, meaning it's not terribly uncommon to have an asthmatic person some time down the line.

When not treated, it progresses by a rate of 0.25 per day, meaning it will take 2 days to reach full severity (50%).

Good treatment will reduce the rate of progression by up to 0.8, meaning it will regress by 0.55 a day; it can be returned to its initial severity, but cannot be cured completely.

Asthma's severity will fluctuate depending on the quality of treatment received, with a treatment quality of 32% beginning to regress the stages of asthma (the higher, the better).

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Asthma (minor)	≥ 0% severity	-10% part efficiency
Asthma (major)	≥ 30% severity	-30% part efficiency
Asthma (major)	≥ 45% severity	-50% part efficiency

Treatment:

• The severity of asthma can be reduced with treatment, which can be given every 420,000 ticks (around 7 days). One treatment applies to both lungs.
• Asthma can be cured by replacing the lung with a non-diseased one.

A human pawn can first get asthma at any age.

Asthma chance

Bad back

Degradation in the spinal column and surrounding musculature. This makes it hard to move and bend smoothly.

Ailment	Symptoms
Bad back	-30% Moving -10% Manipulation

A bad back can be cured by installing a bionic spine

A human pawn can first get a bad back at age 41.

Bad back chance

Cataract

Milky-looking opacity in the eye. Cataracts impair vision.

Ailment	Symptoms
Cataract	-50% part efficiency in the affected eye. This results in 50% sight if both eyes are affected.

Cataracts can be cured by replacing the affected eye with a bionic or archotech eye.

A human pawn can first get a cataract at age 49.

Cataract chance

Carcinoma

A carcinoma (or cancer) is where mutated cells uncontrollably divide to form tumours, which then 'crowd out' normal bodily cells and hinder bodily function in that area. Carcinomas can be surgically removed (requires a surgeon with at least 10 medicine skill), or healthy parts can be transplanted in some cases. Ordinary treatment (which can be performed by anybody) will prolong the development of a carcinoma or speed up remission, with better treatment being more effective. Installed nuclear stomachs create a carcinoma on the torso with an MTB of 120 days.

A carcinoma typically starts out at 30% severity. There is a 30% chance that a carcinoma won't cause any pain whatsoever.

A cancer has 3 stages; growing, stable and remission.

• When growing, it progresses by 0.003 per day, multiplied by a factor of 0.45 - 1.65.
• When stable, it neither grows nor regresses on its own.
• When in remission, it regresses by 0.002 per day, multiplied by a factor of 0.7 - 1.5.

Good treatment can slow progression by 0.0027 per day, meaning that the carcinoma will grow slower when in growing stage, regress slowly when stable (or for very slow-growing carcinomas), and regress quickly when in remission.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Carcinoma (minor)	≥0% severity	Little pain (+10%) -10% part efficiency
Carcinoma (minor)	≥15% severity	Moderate pain (+20%) -25% part efficiency
Carcinoma (major)	≥40% severity	Moderate pain (+35%) -50% part efficiency
Carcinoma (major)	≥60% severity	Acute pain (+50%) -80% part efficiency
Carcinoma (extreme)	≥80% severity	Acute pain (+60%) -90% part efficiency
Carcinoma (extreme)	100% severity	Affected part is destroyed

Treatment:

• Treated every 240,000 ticks (66.67 mins)
• Surgical removal; this needs 4 medicine (regular or above) and a doctor of medicine skill 10 or above, and has only 70% base chance to succeed

A human pawn can first get a carcinoma from normal aging at age 23. Carcinomas from other sources including toxic buildup and nuclear stomachs can happen at any age.

Carcinoma chance

Dementia

Dementia is simply the functionality of the brain declining, and affects all cognitive functions.

Ailment	Symptoms
Dementia	Impaired brain function (-15% part efficiency) Impaired speech (-25%) Net loss of 40% speech including brain function loss Impaired hearing (-25%) Net loss of 40% hearing including brain function loss Confused wandering (MTB of 5 days) Slightly accelerated skill loss

A human pawn can first get dementia from aging at age 69. Dementia from other sources including toxic buildup can happen at any age.

Dementia chance

Frail

Generalized loss of muscle and bone density. Note that frail can stack with bad back.

Ailment	Symptoms
Frail	-30% Moving -30% Manipulation

Can only be cured with luciferium, a healer mech serum, or with the use of biosculpter pod's bioregeneration cycle.

A human pawn can first get frail at age 51.

Frail chance

Artery blockage

A blockage in one of the critical arteries in the heart. Heart artery blockages randomly induce heart attacks. Artery blockages can be treated by replacing the heart with a natural, prosthetic or bionic replacement, with a healer mech serum, with luciferium, or with the use of biosculpter pod's bioregeneration cycle.

Artery blockages progress by a base of 0.0007 per day, multiplied by a random factor between 0.5 - 3. This means that artery blockages can take anywhere from 7.9 to 47.6 in-game years from onset to become fatal on its own.

Artery blockages can be treated by replacing the heart.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Artery blockage (minor)	≥0% severity	-5% part efficiency Heart attack (MTB of 600 days)
Artery blockage (minor)	≥20% severity	-10% part efficiency Heart attack (MTB of 500 days)
Artery blockage (major)	≥40% severity	-15% part efficiency Heart attack (MTB of 300 days)
Artery blockage (major)	≥60% severity	-35% part efficiency Heart attack (MTB of 200 days)
Artery blockage (extreme)	≥90% severity	-60% part efficiency Heart attack (MTB of 120 days)
Artery blockage (extreme)	100% severity	Death

A human pawn can first get an artery blockage at age 21.

Artery blockage chance

Hearing loss

Inability to hear quiet sounds due to degradation of hair cells in the cochlea.

Ailment	Symptoms
Hearing loss	-50% part efficiency (results in 50% hearing if both ears are affected)

Can be partially mitigated with one or two cochlear implants Can be completely mitigated with a single bionic ear, even if the other ear remains affected

A human pawn can first get hearing loss at age 49.

Hearing loss chance

Acute

Some ailments arise as a result of an acute lack of food or exposure to extreme temperatures. These ailments can only be treated by addressing the underlying cause (e.g. providing food or moving to more comfortable temperatures).

Malnutrition

When a pawn's food meter reaches 0%, they will begin to suffer from malnutrition, shown on the health tab. When a colonist is starving they will prioritize eating over other activities, including firefighting and doctoring.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Malnutrition (trivial)	0.0 days since hunger hit zero	-5% consciousness +50% hunger rate 1.5x more likely to start a social fight
Malnutrition (minor)	1.2 days since hunger hit zero	-10% consciousness +60% hunger rate 2x more likely to start a social fight
Malnutrition (moderate)	2.4 days since hunger hit zero	-20% consciousness +60% hunger rate 2.5x more likely to start a social fight
Malnutrition (severe)	3.5 days since hunger hit zero	-30% consciousness +60% hunger rate 3x more likely to start a social fight
Malnutrition (extreme)	4.7 days since hunger hit zero	Unconscious (consciousness max. 10%)
Malnutrition (extreme)	5.9 days since hunger hit zero	Death

Blood loss

A reduction in the normal blood volume. Minor blood loss has relatively mild effects, but when blood loss becomes severe, oxygen transport becomes badly impaired and the victim loses the ability to move. Extreme blood loss leads to death.

Blood loss occurs when a pawn has untreated bleeding wounds. Bleeding wounds are identified on the health tab by a blood icon and a tooltip shows the bleeding rate. Total blood loss is listed under whole body and its tooltip shows the total blood loss. Overall bleeding rate is shown at the bottom.

Once all bleeding wounds are healed the pawn will start recovering from blood loss. It takes up to 4 days to fully recover.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Blood loss (minor)	≥15% blood loss	-10% Consciousness
Blood loss (moderate)	≥30% blood loss	-20% Consciousness
Blood loss (severe)	≥45% blood loss	-40% Consciousness
Blood loss (extreme)	≥60% blood loss	Consciousness 10% max.
Blood loss (extreme)	100% blood loss	Death

Heatstroke

Heat stroke occurs when a pawn has prolonged exposure to temperatures well above their maximum comfortable temperature.

Note that it is possible for a pawn to have both heatstroke and hypothermia at the same time if time is spent in both extreme heat and cold. Their severities are unrelated.

The exact way the rate of severity gain is calculated is currently unknown to this wiki.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Heatstroke (initial)	>0.04 Severity	Consciousness -5%
Heatstroke (minor)	>0.20 Severity	Consciousness -10% Moving -10%
Heatstroke (serious)	>0.35 Severity	Consciousness -20% Moving -30% Pain +15%
Heatstroke (extreme)	>0.62 Severity	Consciousness max. 10% Pain +30%
Heatstroke (100%)	=1.00 Severity	Death

Hypothermia

Hypothermia occurs when a pawn has prolonged exposure to temperatures well below their minimum comfortable temperature.

Note that it is possible for a pawn to have both heatstroke and hypothermia at the same time if time is spent in both extreme heat and cold. Their severities are unrelated.

The exact way the rate of severity gain is calculated is currently unknown to this wiki.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Hypothermia (shivering)	>0.04 Severity	Consciousness -5% Manipulation -8%
Hypothermia (minor)	>0.20 Severity	Consciousness -10% Manipulation -20% Moving -10%
Hypothermia (serious)	>0.35 Severity	Consciousness -20% Manipulation -50% Moving -30% Pain +15%
Hypothermia (extreme)	>0.62 Severity	Consciousness max. 10% Pain +30%
Hypothermia (100%)	=1.00 Severity	Death

Hypothermic slowdown (insectoid)

A special biological state used by some creatures to survive extreme cold. Instead of trying to stay warm, the creature's body chemistry adapts to prevent internal freezing despite very low temperature. Bodily functions are slowed and capacities are reduced, but the cold does no permanent damage. Some biologists call it a wakeful form of hibernation.

Insectoids avoid hypothermia and experience hypothermic slowdown instead with similar penalties but avoiding death at 100% and no frostbite.

Slowdown value increases many times above 100% with apparently no upper limit. When defrosting insects this total value is used so defrost time is proportional to total time frozen.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Hypothermia (minor)	>0.04 Severity	Consciousness -5% Moving -8%
Hypothermia (moderate)	>0.20 Severity	Consciousness -20% Moving -20% Manipulation -20% Hunger rate -10%
Hypothermia (serious)	>0.35 Severity	Consciousness -40% Moving -40% Manipulation -50% Hunger rate -40%
Hypothermia (extreme)	>0.62 Severity	Consciousness max. 10% Hunger rate -95%

Drug damage

These ailments are caused by excess drug use.

Cirrhosis

A degenerative liver disease caused by excessive alcohol consumption. An otherwise healthy pawn with cirrhosis will have an immunity gain speed of 70%, making them extremely vulnerable to disease.

Ailment	Symptoms
Cirrhosis	-60% part efficiency (liver) Slight pain (+15%) -10% Moving

Chemical damage

Permanent damage that occurs as a result of drug overdose or tolerance. There are two variants.

Ailment	Symptoms
Chemical damage (moderate)	-50% part efficiency Always applied to the brain
Chemical damage (severe)	-80% part efficiency Always applied to the kidneys

Treatment:

• Kidney chemical damage can be cured by replacing with a non-damaged kidney

General

These ailments appear in gameplay, and usually wear off on their own (except death-causing ones).

Cryptosleep sickness

After-effects of using a cryptosleep pod. Cryptosleep suspends and replaces many bodily functions in order to prevent aging and death. Upon exiting cryptosleep, the body takes time to restart and rebalance its natural metabolic processes. While this is ongoing, the patient suffers from nausea, dizziness, and a sense of fuzziness in the mind.

Occurs after having been in a ship cryptosleep casket or a cryptosleep casket for any amount of time. The colonists in the "Crashlanded" scenario have a chance of starting with cryptosleep sickness, as they were in cryptosleep before crashing on the planet.

Ailment	Symptoms
Cryptosleep sickness	Frequent vomiting (MTB of 3 hours) Impaired consciousness (×80%) Impaired moving (×90%) Impaired manipulation (×90%)

Treatment:

• Wears off after 10,000 ticks (2.78 mins)

Food poisoning

Occurs after having eaten a contaminated meal or occasionally from raw food. The chance of contamination for cooked meals is determined by the cook's skill and the cleanliness of the room where it was prepared.

Raw food has a flat chance of 2% of causing food poisoning. Note that food poisoning starts at 100% severity and drops to zero (and goes away) over the course of 24 hours.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Food poisoning (minor)	0–4 hours from onset	Vomiting (MTB of 0.3 days) Some pain (+20%) Impaired consciousness (×60%) Impaired moving (×80%) Impaired manipulation (×90%) Reduced blood filtration (×95%) Much slower eating (×50%)
Food poisoning (major)	4–20 hours from onset	Vomiting (MTB of 0.2 days) Significant pain (+40%) Impaired consciousness (×50%) Impaired moving (×50%) Impaired manipulation (×80%) Reduced blood filtration (×85%) Much slower eating (×30%)
Food poisoning (recovering)	20–24 hours from onset	Vomiting (MTB of 0.4 days) Some pain (+20%) Impaired consciousness (×60%) Impaired moving (×80%) Impaired manipulation (×90%) Reduced blood filtration (×95%) Much slower eating (×30%)

Toxic buildup

Primarily occurs with exposure to toxic fallout. A colonist under a roof is protected from exposure. Prolonged exposure gradually increases the buildup level. Once a colonist returns to a roofed area their buildup severity will gradually decrease. The buildup severity occurs in stages. The later stages cause permanent dementia which does not wear off even after toxic buildup subsides. When a pawn affected by toxic buildup dies, there is a chance that its corpse will instantly rot - this chance is equal to the severity.

Buildup is proportional to the toxic sensitivity stat - thus, humans buildup at the full rate, animals at half, and insects and mechanoids are immune.

Alternatively, some attacks also cause toxic buildup, such as cobra bites, the venom talon or venom fangs .

Once no longer exposed, severity reduces by 0.08 per day, meaning that it will take up to 12.5 days to eliminate all toxins accumulated in the body. However, colonists that reach high stages of toxic buildup are likely to develop further complications.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Toxic buildup (initial)	≥4% severity	-5% Consciousness
Toxic buildup (minor)	≥20% severity	-10% Consciousness
Toxic buildup (moderate)	≥40% severity	-15% Consciousness Vomiting (MTB of 5 days) Dementia (permanent, MTB of 146 days to develop) Carcinoma (MTB of 438 days to develop)
Toxic buildup (serious)	≥60% severity	-25% Consciousness Vomiting (MTB of 1 day) Dementia (permanent, MTB of 37 days to develop) Carcinoma (MTB of 111 days to develop)
Toxic buildup (extreme)	≥80% severity	Unconsciousness (Max. consciousness 10%) Vomiting (MTB of 0.5 day) Dementia (permanent, MTB of 13 days to develop) Carcinoma (MTB of 39 days to develop)
Toxic buildup (extreme)	100% severity	Death

Brain shock

"After-effects of an electrical shock to the brain. This is generally cause by feedback from brain implants hit by eMP pulses." - In-game description

Occurs when an EMP effect hits a pawn with the following brain implants:

• Learning assistant
• Neurocalculator
• Circadian assistant
• Circadian half-cycler

It lasts between 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) and 3,500 ticks (58.33 secs).

Despite only occuring with implants from the Royalty DLC, it is defined in the core code.

Stage	Symptoms
Brain shock	Unconscious (Consciousness max. 10%)

Psychic shock

A state of psychic chaos in the brain and mind. Caused by psychic attacks or critical level of neural heat, this effect is debilitating until it wears off.

— In-game description

Occurs when a pawn is hit by the effect of a psychic shock lance or when exceeding a pawn's neural heat limits when psycasting .

It lasts 7,500 ticks (2.08 mins).

Stage	Symptoms
Psychic shock	Unconscious (Consciousness max. 10%)

Biosculpting sickness

"The after-effects of an incomplete biosculpting cycle. It causes nausea, dizziness, and fuzzy thinking." - In-game description

Occurs when a pawn is ejected from a biosculpter pod after 24 hours without power.

It lasts between 8,000 ticks (2.22 mins) and 12,000 ticks (3.33 mins)

Stage	Symptoms
Biosculpting sickness	Consciousness ×80% Moving ×90% Manipulation ×90% Vomitting (Mtb 0.125 days)

Surgical

These ailments happen with medical operations.

Anesthetic

Used in surgery to make sure that a pawn is unconscious. It can also be administered outside of operations using a medical bill, consuming medicine.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Anesthetic (sedated)	0–6 hours from onset	Unconscious (Consciousness max. 1%)
Anesthetic (woozy)	6–12 hours from onset	Reduced pain (×80%) Impaired consciousness (70% max) Impaired moving (-20%) Impaired manipulation (-20%) Impaired metabolism (-20% Impaired sight (-15%) Vomiting (MTB of 0.25 days) Confused wandering (MTB of 5 days) Forget memory thought (MTB of 5 days) Improved mood (+10)
Anesthetic (wearing off)	12+ hours from onset	Reduced pain (×95%) Impaired consciousness (90% max) Impaired moving (-5%) Impaired manipulation (-10%) Vomiting (MTB of 4 days) Confused wandering (MTB of 50 days)

Treatment:

• Wears off on its own between 45,000 ticks (12.5 mins) to 75,000 ticks (20.83 mins) even if severity has not reached 0%
  • Surgery is unaffected even if it wears off before finished

Version history

Prior to 1.1 it lasted only 15,000 ticks (4.17 mins) and did not have any other stages afterwards.

Resurrection

These may occur after a dose of resurrector mech serum is applied on a dead pawn.

Resurrection sickness

After-effects of being resurrected by mechanite injection. Artificially-kickstarted body processes take time to rebalance themselves.

Ailment	Symptoms
Resurrection sickness	Loss of moving (max. 10%) Loss of manipulation (max. 10%)

Treatment:

• Wears off anywhere from 90,000 ticks (25 mins) to 150,000 ticks (41.67 mins)

Probability:

• 100% chance of being applied

Blindness

Mechanites fail to properly repair the eyes, instead causing more damage to it, resulting in blindness.

Blindness from resurrector mech serum applies to both eyes, resulting in total blindness

Ailment	Symptoms
Blindness	Complete loss of function (-100% part efficiency)

Treatment:

• Replace eyes with bionic eyes or archotech eyes

Probability:

• 2% chance when used at 0.1 days or less of decay
• Linearly increases to 80% after 5 days decayed

Resurrection psychosis

Chaotic thought patterns caused by the decoherence of resurrection mechanites. Resurrection psychosis progresses and eventually causes total psychosis and death.

The severity of the psychosis increases by 0.01 per day, meaning that it will kill in 100 days. Hopefully this gives you enough time to find a healer mech serum, the only treatment for the disease.

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Resurrection psychosis (hidden)	≥0% severity	No visible symptoms, doesn't show up in health tab Can still be cured with healer mech serum at this stage even if it is not visible.
Resurrection psychosis (early)	≥10% severity	Frequent mental breaks (MTB of 9 days)
Resurrection psychosis (moderate)	≥25% severity	Consciousness -10% Frequent mental breaks (MTB of 6 days)
Resurrection psychosis (advanced)	≥40% severity	Consciousness -20% Frequent mental breaks (MTB of 3 days)
Resurrection psychosis (severe)	≥55% severity	Consciousness -30% Extremely frequent mental breaks (MTB of 0.5 days)
Resurrection psychosis (total)	≥70% severity	Consciousness -40% Extremely frequent mental breaks (MTB of 0.25 days)
Resurrection psychosis (catatonic)	≥85% severity	Pawn becomes unconscious (Consciousness max. 10%)
Resurrection psychosis (catatonic)	100% severity	Death

Treatments:

• Healer mech serum
• Allowing the pawn to die again, then resurrecting once more (rerolls the disease)

Probability of contracting:

• 2% chance when used at 0.1 days or less of decay
• Linearly increases to 80% after 5 days decayed

Heart attack

Heart attacks can randomly occur on any pawn/animal at any time, but they become more frequent as they pass half of their life expectancy (e.g. 40 years in humans), triggered by the birthday event. There must be more than 2 colonists on your colony for this to occur.

The average interval between heart attacks is curved as follows (in days):

• 0-50% of life expectancy: 99,999,999 - 99,999,999
• 50-60% of life expectancy: 99,999,999 - 2,500
• 60-100% of life expectancy: 2,500 - 300

Examples of intervals and chances:

• 55% of life expectancy (i.e. 44 in humans): 50,001,249.5 days (approx. 0.00000002% per day)
• 80% of life expectancy (i.e. 64 in humans): 1,400 days (approx. 0.000714% per day)

Stages

Stage	Begins at	Symptoms
Painful	0% Severity	Consciousness ×50% Pain +40%
Debilitating	60% Severity	Consciousness max. 10% (Unconciousness) Pain +60%
Fatal	100% Severity	Death

Progression

Heart attacks always start at 40% severity. Every 5,000 ticks (1.39 mins) the heart attack severity will randomly change by a value between -40% to +60%. This means that it is possible for a heart attack to treat itself on its own, but usually the heart attack progresses to fatal severity.

Treatment

Like injuries, medicine can be used to treat a heart attack.

Doctors treating heart attacks will administer treatments rapidly, consuming medicine in the process. Each treatment has a chance to succeed, reducing the heart attack severity by 30%. Successfully reducing severity below 0 will completely treat the heart attack.

The maximum chance a particular treatment can succeed is 65%.

Version history

• 0.7.581 Added with cataracts and bad back
• 0.8.657 - Added hypothermia, frostbite, heatstroke, and burns from being in areas with extreme temperatures.
• 0.9.722 - Food poisoning and cryptosleep sickness added. Some ailments can now cause vomiting.
• 0.10.785 - Starvation and blood loss are now staged and affect consciousness as they worsen.
• 0.12.906 - All organisms including animals have life expectancies and will develop chronic conditions like frailty or cataracts in old age. Heart attacks added.
• 0.13.1135 - Carcinoma, asthma, and hearing loss added.