The danger of the plague

[Wojtek94]

What do you think about the danger of the plague in Cataclysm? According to the lore, billions of people are dead or turned into zombies. That is a lot of rotten meat. Moreover, rats and other vermin may carry and spread a given disease. The plague would be active in the air so that items like gas masks or anti-plague costumes may be crucial for survival. ‘Filthy clothing’ mod and every element that is connected with hygiene will have a new use. Of course, the plague should appear during late-game. It may provide a thrill which is quite rare during late-game. It does not matter what weapons or skills players have. Players have to be clean, well-fed and cautious. Now, vermin and rats provide a lot of meat. To be honest, I do not need to focus on farming. If I kill a bear, I can spread butcher it and spread the meat over a large area. Then I have to wait for giant cockroaches. The danger of the plague may change this situation. A lot of rotten meat / vermin = a high possibility of the plague

[Erk]

What plague are you thinking of? Rotting meat doesn’t spontaneously spawn plague, it has to come from an infectious source.

The risks of all the rot are largely well represented I think by how dangerous it is to drink unboiled water pretty much anywhere. Bubonic plague or smallpox aren’t just going to show up.

[DarkendTheMighty]

Do you mean The Blob? The cataclysm itself? Rotting flesh is dangerous sure, but like E R K said, it doesn’t cause the plague. I’m pretty sure the only known diseases would kill said “rats and other vermin” if they had it.

[Eastwardrope91]

The only plagues I can think that would come from this is the Mycus(mushrooms are decomposers) and anthrax which grows on pretty much anything but is more likely to grow on cow crap. So if it’s anthrax you are so screwed. It takes alot of meds and very special and specific medicine and if not caught in time is a straight up death sentence. The Mycus are an annoyance if you’re smart and proactive and have the right stuff.

Also only other ones are not really dangerous but they are the reasons for food poisoning(that is for the majority they are not airborne most of them are ingest only and a couple if you get it in a cut could injure you so the roaches could cause you trouble with that only). The blob also has infected everyone already(look to the refugee center and you’ll figure it out) and so if you know what it does it’s harmless. Zombies don’t “spread” a plague they do however insert rotting tissues and bacteria cultures which can weaken and even disable the immune system for the most part allowing for other more often illnesses to set-in.

[kevin.granade]

There has been speculation that large numbers of corpses would lead to a dangerously infectious environment, but other than bodies rotting in water sources, it’s pretty unlikely.

The plague however is naturally occurring in some areas, so there could be a risk of infection based on exposure due to insufficient sanitization.

[Trigon]

Kill and burn cats on principal to avoid the plague. I actually knew a guy who got it from a mountain lion corpse.

[Blaze1711]

One simple way to make the plague and rot more interesting would be to implement a “stench” mechanic, by adding a (flag maybe) way in which being near rotting/rotten corpses/food gives you a morale penalty. Higher the worse the decomposition is.

[Malkeus]

Even more DF content, yay!

[TheZoneWizard]

Funny before I read this I was thinking he was referring to a Miasma.

In most cases where people have been killed by disease to an extent the corpses are burned or a buried in a mass grace. There would be a safety concern more from carrion creatures spreading whatever those poor folks died of.

Unless of course you live in china and die in a train wreck…then they just get lazy and bury everyone where the train derailed for the grins. Seriously. Rather disturbing >_>