                               Concept : Plague

NAME
   Plague - The Plague

Level: Expert

Plague  is  used  in  Empire to symbolize all forms of disease and is the only
health hazard associated with the Empire game, (ignoring it's effects  on  the
players).   The characteristics of plague are, therefore, a compromise of dis-
ease features (or "bugs").

Note that if the NO_PLAGUE option is in use, a kindly deity has wiped out  the
plague for you. If not, worry about it.

All of the timelines below are based on a game with 32 ETU updates.

The  Empire  Plague  takes  between 96 and 189 time units to run its course on
land, (i.e., 2 to 4 days in any particular sector/ship/land unit if an  Empire
time unit is 1/2 and hour.)  In so doing the plague goes through three stages:

Stage  I  --  The  gestation  or incubation phase in which no symptoms appear.
   Sectors, ships and land units that are in this stage of the plague are  in-
   distinguishable  from  healthy ones.  This stage lasts 32 to 63 time units,
   (less than a day and a half).

Stage II -- The infectious phase in which the symptoms first appear --  orange
   blotches  on  the  face and hands, sometimes accompanied by grey stripes on
   the genitalia, itching of the liver and spleen, an uncontrollable  fear  of
   ripe  tomatoes,  etc.  During this phase the plague is extremely communica-
   ble; for example, a simple delivery from an infectious sector  will  infect
   the destination sector.

Stage III -- The terminal phase in which people die, often in the act of flee-
   ing from (real or imagined) tomatoes.  The number of  people  that  die  is
   roughly  inversely  proportional to the research level of the country (plus
   100).

All three phases are of roughly equal average duration, (about 48 time periods
or 1 day).

Plague  usually  arises  in  countries with high technological development and
comparatively little medical research.  It arises specifically in sectors with
high population density and low efficiency.

Recently  archaeologists  have uncovered a treatise by a Dr. M. Welby entitled
"Demographic considerations and the Empire Plague".  In part it states:

        It appeared that our original hypothesis  based  on  the  high
        percentage  of  Lumbagan  Legionnaires among the afflicted had
        led us down a blind alley and that if we were  to  solve  this
        complex  puzzle  before  the  end  of the series in the spring
        [possibly a reference to the series of tests  leading  to  the
        mysterious  "Neilson  Rating"]  we would have to turn to other
        disciplines for help.  It was only by the merest lucky coinci-
        dence  that  as  I drove home one evening ...  [here Dr. Welby
        relates an amusing anecdote about a Brownie Scout and the  di-
        rector  of  a  film  entitled  "Close  Encounters of the Third
        Grade"] ...  leading us to the following  amazing  formulation
        of the relationship between medical research, technology, pop-
        ulation, standard of living and the Empire Plague:

   Likelihood of plague outbreak (in percent) is
           civ + mil + uw   t_level + (iron + oil + rad * 2) / 10 + 100
   max (0, -------------- * ------------------------------------------- - 1)
               max_pop             r_level + effic + mobil + 100

Many researchers have commented on the surprising lack of correlation  between
food supply and plague outbreak.

Fortunately,  the  plague is only infectious while a sector, ship or land unit
is actively battling the plague (Stage II).  The  most  effective  method  for
curing  plague  has  been  to isolate the sick as soon as an outbreak has been
spotted.

This includes preventing any loading and unloading of  ships  and  land  units
(since  they  can,  of  course, carry plague), explorations out of the sector,
moving commodities out of the sector, even by air, distribution  or  delivery,
etc.   Basically, any people or commodities that originate from a sector, ship
or land unit actively battling plague will cause the destination sector,  ship
or land unit to become infected.  Beware, "people" includes pilots.

Once  an outbreak has been spotted, the plague takes on an infectious state at
the next update.  There is very little time to isolate the  sector  and  limit
deaths caused by plague.

SEE ALSO
   Innards, Research, Sector-types, Technology, Populace, Updates

