Buff germ counters and infection.

[Bygonehero]

What it says on the tin. Most, if not all objects, mobs, and tiles in the game already count germs, yet most if not all do little with this data. This allows things like syringes to be reused over and over when in reality they would only be used once.

I suggest we buff germ counts to accurately convey the importance of sanitization. In general, germ counts should act like heat, moving from high concentrations of in this case germs to lower concentrations. With a base amount of germs that each object/mob/tile has. This basic number represents innate germs, those that are borne with an organism/object but have little effect on it. These innate germs are not harmful to their beginning organism but can transfer to other objects/tiles/mobs and cause infection.

I believe this would be the first step in revamping virology, and the mechanics for this are already largely in place. Mechanisms that increase and decrease germ concentrations exist as washing the floors, washing your hands and chemical treatments with the former benefiting from dirty floors, blood spill vectors, unwashed hand contact. This only further solidifies these pre-existing mechanics to be more meaningful. Now you cannot use the same syringe over and over unless you want to transfer germ counts.

In addition, I am aware that spaceaccilian resets germ counters to zero in mobs, which can get around these buffs, but I believe another server has found an answer to this problem in the form of immunosuppressants. Spaceaccilian does indeed still reset the germ counters of a mob to zero, but the innate germ values remain the same, and in addition, the immunosuppressant effect increases the rate that their innate germs multiply, as well as removing their immunity to them. I would like to hear thoughts about this system, as its largely unknown except for coders and some medical mains.

[Resilynn]

If we were to make syringes single use, we sure as hell better increase the number of syringes on station about ten fold.

[Bauser]

Or instead of making them single-use just make it so that they need to be cleaned (E.G. add some autoclaves in medical and science), and if they aren't cleaned they secretly hold onto a unit of whatever was in them before, or of the blood of whoever was last injected with it. So if you use a needle on an infected person, then use it on someone else without cleaning it, it silently transfers a unit of infected blood (in addition to the 15 units of whatever liquid is displayed in the syringe) to the second person. And throwing it in the autoclave erases this secret extra unit.

[Dr. Farson]

I agree with all the ideas in this forums, and I feel that it is awesome. I personally think that syringes should be single use, A suggestion I would have is make the bio suit carry germs, and so the viro cant just walk out into the open wearing it. Otherwise, a +1 from me!

Edited May 29, 2018 by Guest

[Bauser]

In general, I do wish that diseases and virology were more strongly represented in the average game. It's a significant trope in science fiction, one that I don't think is done justice by the way our diseases usually manifest and play out in-game. Of course, for diseases to be taken seriously, they don't just have to be easier to contract - the symptoms have to be more serious, too. And I don't necessarily mean that in terms of more lethal. Currently, we have diseases that cause screaming, and giggling, and groaning... just, symptoms that don't really inspire you to take it seriously. If we could trim down the list, or come up with more creative illnesses, that would also go a long way to make being sick... well, a more enjoyable experience.

+1

I am also strongly in favor of Dr. Farson's rider suggestion, because it would finally give a mechanical reason for virologists and scientists to use the showers that are placed at the entrances to their departments. They exist for a reason, after all.

[LanceLynxx]

I love the idea and also the syringe secret unit thing.

Im against singlr use syringes however, but I do like the idea of germs being a thing, and also more serious symptoms for diseases.

[Dr. Farson]

In general, I do wish that diseases and virology were more strongly represented in the average game. It's a significant trope in science fiction, one that I don't think is done justice by the way our diseases usually manifest and play out in-game. Of course, for diseases to be taken seriously, they don't just have to be easier to contract - the symptoms have to be more serious, too. And I don't necessarily mean that in terms of more lethal. Currently, we have diseases that cause screaming, and giggling, and groaning... just, symptoms that don't really inspire you to take it seriously. If we could trim down the list, or come up with more creative illnesses, that would also go a long way to make being sick... well, a more enjoyable experience.

 

I like your Idea, and think it should be implemented, however, I do feel diseases NEED to be more lethal. This is partly because I think that if the germ mechanics are implemented, we need to have a reason to KEEP the germs isolated, and what is better than a deadly disease to keep people from walking out of the virology lab with their bio-hazard suit on. I think that without mechanics like these, the game is suffering greatly.

[Aceofspades1228]

Alright, as Resilynn mentioned if we decide we need to go the 'single use' syringe route, we need to increase the amount of syringes available to medical. By, like, orders of magnitude- if we want to give a person a 15 unit dosage of something as it is right now, we would need to use a grand total of three entirely different syringes, which means we would run out of the starting gear incredibly quickly. The idea of using an auto-lathe to sterilize the syringes is another idea mentioned, and personally I could get behind that if we really decide we're gonna go down this route. The third and final idea is to have the needletip of a syringe be replaceable- whether at a medplus vending machine or some wall dispenser (similar to what security has for their pepperspray), after using a syringe you can walk up to a wall dispenser and use it to replace and dispose of the needle proper.

[Bauser]

[mention]Aceofspades1228[/mention] When others have said to make syringes "single-use," I don't think they mean you can only inject with it one time (5 units) - but rather, you can only empty it one time (15 units, the full syringe) before it becomes dirty (chance of contamination, or carries previously injected material or blood from the person injected).

A benefit of the autoclave idea is that we wouldn't need to increase the supply of syringes available, since the syringes can be reused - it just requires an intermediate step in order for it to be done safely. AND, syringes could even be reused without cleaning if you're only using them on a single patient (since there's no risk of contaminating them with their own blood, or with a drug they were supposed to be taking anyway).