The Plague: A Detailed Study

[J. M. Pescado]

HOW THE PLAGUE WORKS:

Every disease has a "Severity" value, a "Death Severity", a "Contagiousness" value, and a type. There are 5 predefined types of plague, with predefined attributes (don't recall them right now) and symptom,, as well as "mysterious" plagues that a mathematically determined (generally random) set of exactly 2 symptoms per plague, and customizable values of initial severity, contagiousness, and deadliness.

A sim with the plague has a chance of leaving behind a "plague spread" tile that has a lifespan depending on the contagiousness of the plague approximately every half hour. Every hour, the sim has a chance of exhibiting a plague symptom, and his recovery total is checked. Every 6 hours, the recovery total is subtracted from the disease severity unless lethality of disease is -1 (special). Curepoints are then reset. A lethality -1 (nonlethal) disease will only be cured when curepoints > severity, but curepoints never reset for a "nonlethal" disease. Death will occur at this 6-hour interval if severity has exceeded lethal dosage.

Recovery works as follows:
+8 if a sim is sleeping. Ignore all subsequent values below.
+6 if a sim is sitting
+4 if the sim's comfort/energy (each)  is >= 50 (75%)
-4 if a sim's comfort/energy (each) is < 0 (50%)
Sims do not recover or worsen if they are "off lot". Sims do not recover or worsen unless they are visitor type 0 (resident).

The recovery value earned per interval reduces the "Severity" value by that amount (or increases it!). If the severity of the plague reaches 0, the sim recovers. If the severity of the plague exceeds the "deadliness" value for a potentially fatal plague, he dies. Recovery is not checked on community lots. In fact, nothing is checked on community lots as of sometime after TS2Original, and as of this writing (TS2OFBp2), sims cannot suffer any plague symptoms, nor spread the plague, on a community lot.

The exact effect of the medicine from the medical station is somewhat odd. Thorough examination of the curative mechanism suggests that, based on our present knowledge of the Manage Inventory code, the code is broken and does not function at in most cases, reading the token value of the index of the token inventory index of of the disease token, which in most cases is a large number and therefore is invalid (false return), causing the medicine to have no effect. In rare cases the plague token may be of sufficiently low value that the index IS valid and therefore a garbage value will be written into the severity value of the disease, with unpredictable consequences ranging from instant cure, slight improvement/worsening, no change, or change to a deadly value. This appears to confirm empirical evidence that the biotech station medicine is apparently broken and has no useful effect. On the off-chance you somehow manage to induce an effect, it will likely be bad for you as a random garbage value will be written, causing unpredictable consequences.

The available types of standard plague will be summarized shortly. "Mysterious" plagues can be acquired through the Biotech station (gives a randomly generated plague), or through a nefarious deeds (by installing hacks and objects that produce plagues!).

STANDARD PLAGUES
Morning Sickness
LD: -1
SS: 1d20 + 29
CT: -1

Food Poisoning
LD: 120
SS: 1d60 + 59
CT: -1

Cold
LD: 40 (special)
SS: 1d20+9
CT: 80
Special Note: Becomes pneumonia if severity hits lethal dosage. If this is not possible for some mysterious reason, death results (normally cannot happen).

Pneumonia
LD: 120
SS: 1d20 + 69
CT: 20

Flu
LD: 120
SS: 1d10 + 29
CT: 70

Mysterious
SH: 1d100 + 99 (symptom hash determines resulting two random symptoms)
LD: 120
SS: Variable
CT: 1d90 + 9

Diseases with CT: -1 are non-contagious. Diseases with LD: -1 are never lethal, and never decrease in severity, and can be cured if curepoints > severity.

[kutto]

I really thought it would be more complicated than that. It's also a real shame that the plague can't spread on community lots.

Might we have a list of every disease and their respective contagiousness values and severities?

[J. M. Pescado]

I really thought it would be more complicated than that. It's also a real shame that the plague can't spread on community lots.

That is a trivial change. One that I am already field-testing. Or at least, allowing people to suffer and be miserable, anyway. I'm not sure allowing full-scale spread is a good idea given that it will leave a ton of junk objects with possibly corrupt attributes around.

Might we have a list of every disease and their respective contagiousness values and severities?

In the works already.

[dizzy]

I figured out a while ago that when you get a sick sim with lots of energy, just stick them in a closet with a chair and a bookshelf. Then make them study till they're too tired to study or they get well.

[Kyna]

But some of us want the opposite to happen Dizzy.

I have NEVER had a sim die from disease.  I'd like to see it happen in my game - it would make a nice variation to death from old age.  I've tried making them work out on exercise machines or making them work on the workstations from OFB (flowers, robots, toys) or making them smustle.  These should help to deplete their motives, increasing their chance of dying.  But they always recover.

[Avalikia]

I have the same problem!  I think that Maxis was way too generous when they set this up.  Getting a Sim well should be hard!  I just play my Sims normally when they're sick, aside from keeping an eye on the motives that particular illness is draining.  They all get better after a day or so, and about 90% of the time nobody else gets sick.

[Frankenbeasley]

I'd like to see some sort of physical symptom, too. They should have extended the use of the acne to represent buboes which they could get all over their bodies. I've never had an epidemic because I have always operated a very strict quarantine policy on sick Sims, they get no contact with anyone until they are better.

[dizzy]

Well, if you wanted to make their condition worse then do the opposite. Have them mingle as much as possible and spread it around. You probably need at least 3 or 4 sims sick at the same time to see their condtion get bad enough to render sim damage.

[Ancient Sim]

In my original Pleasantview it was hard to find anyone who didn't have the 'flu, but only two people died of it.  One fell victim to the "Recovered on Another Lot" bug before it was sorted by some patch or other, and the other was a bride who caught the 'flu at her wedding (I think about 14 of the 18 guests had it and she was socialising with all of them for the entire time).  She died under the wedding arch and THAT'S what I call surprise value.  Anything that would produce more stuff like that would be extremely welcome. 

I should add that I never do anything to stop disease spreading either, neither do I treat the Sims any differently.  They still go to work and socialise, but sooner or later the epidemic always disappears.  I've even had Sims with a cold, the 'flu and pneumonia all at once and they've always recovered.  I think it needs some random effect popping in somewhere.

[Avalikia]

It just plain needs to be more common, more contagious, more serious, and more deadly.  The way I'm able to ignore their condition with impunity is ridiculous.

[Jelenedra]

I had a sim get sick from the medicine maker gimmick and she kept skilling, 8 hours later and she was magically better.

[Ancient Sim]

I had one recently went to work and while he was there a message came up saying he'd caught 'flu.  Before he got home, another message popped-up saying he was better again.  Can't remember what job he does now, but obviously he obtained a magical cure from somewhere.

[laylei]

The "diseases" are ridiculous. I never bother to make them rest, and no one has ever died.

[Flamingo]

I've actually had that happen to me too, Ancient. I think my Sim was in the Science career when it happened, but I don't remember all that well. An increase in the deadliness of diseases would definitely be appreciated, but not to the point that it was killing everybody that happened to contract the disease. Maybe if I let my Sims live like the pigs they are they might actually contract diseases, but at the moment they are all being micromnaged by me, so it's not like they really get exposed to much.

[kutto]

How much of an effect does the medicine created by the science reward have on disease?

[J. M. Pescado]

How much of an effect does the medicine created by the science reward have on disease?

The Science Reward reduces the severity of the disease by a few points. Since the effects are not particularly noticeable in game, and I don't have the file open and sorted right now, the short version is "not a lot".

[Ancient Sim]

I did actually have a sim die of flies the other day, although it wasn't from being a slob (although as it happens he is).  I noticed that all the flowerbeds were dead, so I deleted them with moveobjectson and replaced them with new ones.  Normally this works, but suddenly everyone was holding their noses and going on about smelly rubbish piles.  I couldn't find any anywhere, but I could see rather a lot of roaches and there was no way the family could get rid of them.  The Exterminator did (took quite a while), but the smell business continued and the roaches came back.  Then just as I was about to get my Sim to call the Exterminator again, suddenly he turned into a pile of ashes and the Reaper arrived (how come that fly death is so quick? Blink and you miss it). 

Anyway, I didn't save it - went back in and used the burn invisible objects thingy and it got rid of at least 20 piles of rubbish, a similar amount of smell emitters (never knew they existed),  a load of roaches ... all the new flowerbeds, two windows, two flamingos ...

[Tyyppi]

A "Black Death" kind of disease would be fun. Well, maybe not so fun for the sims... But yeah, the Maxis plagues are hardly dangerous.

[Frankenbeasley]

A "Black Death" kind of disease would be fun. Well, maybe not so fun for the sims... But yeah, the Maxis plagues are hardly dangerous.

Maybe a maximally Mean Sim with maxed logic who is also a Mad Scientist could actually use the Virus they create.... if only they could release it on a community lot it could be a fun way to cull an overpopulated neighbourhood.

[Paperbladder]

The problem with illnesses now is the fact that the aging system makes the lifespans of sims extremely short.  Essentially, when they can't work for a day they lose a year of their life.  For a sim to die from an illness they have to have it for 5-10 years, and "stressing" them pretty much the whole time.  In addition, diseases are completely random so if they were always fatal people would be complaining that the game is too hard.  I believe if they make a TS3 they need to introduce some sort of Stress system that determines illness.

[Avalikia]

People who would complain that the game is too hard are wusses and should be ignored.

[Ellatrue]

what if they started a home business and infected the customers?

[J. M. Pescado]

what if they started a home business and infected the customers?

It is possible to spread the plague with or at a home a business, yes.

[kewian]

sell the plague? make it part of your stock?

[Dark Trepie]

What about the little blurb I read in the manual to the original TS2 about Body skill affecting resistance to illness.  Any truth to this?

Also, do certain careers have higher chances of making a sim sick?  I've noticed that when my sims do get sick its usually the scientists.