24 replies to this topic

[Thorondor]

@Zombie: this is on a tangential note, but it crosses my mind that we, humans, can sometimes get a little too full of ourselves.

Almost subconsciously, we are so certain we are on top of this virus and will do away with it, given a little time, that it strikes me that could precisely be the key to our very downfall one day.

Meanwhile, I'm fine with us getting free stuff for as long as it takes.

[Zombie]

Thorondor, on 14 November 2020 - 02:47 PM, said:

@Zombie: this is on a tangential note, but it crosses my mind that we, humans, can sometimes get a little too full of ourselves.

Almost subconsciously, we are so certain we are on top of this virus and will do away with it, given a little time, that it strikes me that could precisely be the key to our very downfall one day.

Well, my "optimism" only stems from the recent announcement of the Pfizer vaccine. Obviously, most normal healthy people are not in a phase 1, 2 or 3 group so it'll probably next year before we'll start to see it being rolled out to the general populace.

My only gripe on how it's supposed to be rolled out is placing teachers and child care workers in phase 2 and children in phase 3. Those should be reversed. Children/young adults are less likely to wear masks, more prone to be asymptomatic spreaders and take more risks overall. Get that group under control first and you wouldn't even have to worry about the teachers till phase 4. Granted, there are more children than teachers so it would be easier to focus on them first and to keep them at their jobs. However, my big beef right now is putting children inside a classroom setting period, especially 5 days a week and unlike when school started in fall when it was 2 days or when the pandemic started when it was home schooled. This is a super spreader event in progress or in the making. Just look at the huge uptick since the end of summer. Yeah, you can make a case that people are staying indoors more in the fall due to colder weather, but you can't tell me that this is the only source of new infections.

I can see the recommended phase 2 & 3 grouping work only if teachers are vaccinated first and then only allowing children who have been vaccinated back into a classroom setting, but the cat is out of the bag right now so it's too late.

Well, maybe I can model this in the new DLC, right?

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Zombie, on 14 November 2020 - 03:16 AM, said:

1) So, what happens after covid is under control? Yeah, that's still probably months away but will people who own the base game have to pay for the DLC?

2) I did some minor research into the game files and brute force testing and found some interesting things such as a better starting country which he found interesting.

1) Naturally, the base game will obviously expire!

2) Yes, starting country plays a huge role in Plague. If you start in arid countries you, as a germ, are screwed. Then you need to be careful with the traits you choose to be able to spread there faster.

[Zombie]

Space Voyager, on 18 November 2020 - 06:37 AM, said:

2) Yes, starting country plays a huge role in Plague. If you start in arid countries you, as a germ, are screwed. Then you need to be careful with the traits you choose to be able to spread there faster.

Obviously. Hunters Trophy walkthroughs all start in Egypt, whereas I found that Saudi Arabia is just a tad better in most situations due to it's better linking of ports and airports. Some countries and places are very hard to infect as you are probably aware of (Greenland being one) and some countries don't even have an airport or seaport to directly infect so you have to rely on infecting a neighboring country (with a airport or seaport) and hope someone transmits it across the border.

And it's not just location either, it's how many steps does it take to get from either A or B to C and how long does it take. For instance Egypt might take 4 steps to put infection pressure on country C whereas Saudi Arabia might take only 3 (steps mean "stops" in this context each stop being a port, airport or country itself). Some of those steps take longer due to the scheduling of the two modes.

I also was curious to see if birds could infect across the Strait of Gibraltar between Spain and Morocco. More specifically, can you put infection pressure on Spain by an infected Morocco using just birds. The short answer is no unfortunately even with max levels in Bird transmission.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

True, birds can't help you overseas. Not even migratory birds.

I can't remember which island eluded me several times (Madagascar?) but it was the savior of Humanity, the bloody bastard.

I do wish the game had some way to win by coexisting. It is the ultimate goal of any germ really - to coexist with the victims you infect. If they die, you have less and less hosts and by winning Plague, you commit a suicide. Not really a great success, though most life on Earth might be grateful.