Stonehearth: Plagues and Biological Warfare!

Stonehearth: Let thar be plagues! So, here’s my suggestion: a form of medieval warfare to be added to the game. Anyhow, let us get to my suggestion. First, we would implement plagues in Stonehearth. This would function so that if Mer contracts the plague, then Illyown, if he has been near Mer, would have a chance of contracting it. Upon contracting the plague, Illyown would get progressively slower and his skin greener until, he DIES BWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Okay, so this naturally begs the question: Swift_Cube, what about plague carrying vectors? Well, of course! I say that all mammals in the game (besides Titans) have a possibility of contracting the plague! Of course, sheep and cows would be vectors: one cow could possibly get sick and then the person tending to the cow has a probability of getting infected. Also, you could launch the diseased corpses of cows, sheep, and Mer into an enemy town or at goblins.

So, this leads into the next phase of my suggestion: Okay Swift_Cube, if the plague enters my town, I’ll be helpless to stop it! You’re a douche! Incorrect! I have a way to solve the problem and I am not a douche! You would use the Physician to cure people and animals infected with the plague. First, you’d click the Physician, then, click the people or animals you want to cure. the Physician then cures them, and after being cured they have better immunity. Also, the Physician can’t be infected.

One last thing: what starts the plague, anyway? Well, rats, of course! This new mob will be a pest. It would eat your crops, consume your granaries, and spread plague. Only Trappers can catch these annoying mobs, and rats would be where the plague began. Rats spawn naturally in the world, and tend to get to your city through extensive trade. Trappers are the only way to stop the rats. Less rats = Less Victims. Thanks to @SteveAdamo for requesting me make this feature more clear.

So, let’s look at the balancing of my suggestion:

Pro: You gain a powerful new weapon: Dead bodies being flung over the walls of your enemy cities, increasing infection chance an decreasing the city’s population! :smiley:

Con: Plague can potentially devastate your own town. :frowning:

Also, @naturalnuke was the inspiration for this thread. Thanks! :smile:

I moved a post to an existing topic: Health Care Professionals (Classes)

Would the first plague victim be sick, or will he be the carrier, not showing the signs but infecting people anyway?

I’m sorry, but I wholeheartedly disagree with this idea. It sounds awesome, but it would just overcomplicate the game. However, it would work as a mod.

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I like the idea, and would also like the game to have variants like an airborne mercury, which slowly eats away at the brains of the victims turning them irrational and crazy. Though it kills grass letting you know where the dangerous cloud is.

@naturalnuke, the original carrirer would also exhibit the usual signs of infection: skin getting greener, getting progressively slower, etc. Otherwise, the plague would seem too intelligent! :frowning:

@Dwalus, glad to see you from CWF! I respectfully disagree with your statement, seeing as natural disasters would eventually be added and my idea would just expand on plagues a bit.

@Dwalus besides this will add a tactical element as well.

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You have a point there. Still, I believe it would work better as a mod, or an option when creating a world. I like my games to remain somewhat simple, even in a pseudo-RTS. :slight_smile:

That’s a good, balanced idea! You could turn off natural disasters, etc. if you play on easy. Something like that. But I doubt anything like that would happen in Alpha 1.

aye… and remember, we will have a “peaceful” mode as well, for when you’re feeling particularly creative, and dont want hordes beating down your gates… :smile:

You should check out the iphone game plague inc. its realy good. Will give you a good idea on how to spread and mutate a plague.

what prompts this mob to spawn in your world… are there steps you can take to prevent plagues from occurring, or are trappers the only means of removing the source of the plague once its already showed signs?

clearly you were not hugged enough as a child… :smile:

This plague would have to be moderated. I can see it dominating city after city just from it coming back very fast. If this plague was carried by rats, and rats multiply like crazy, wouldn’t this be super hard to stop? Plus, if you didn’t have a physician, once it has infected people there is no stopping it. Also this would slow down your work like crazy once it has begun. I just feel like this idea is very complicated and would make things too difficult. It should be a mod, and if not it should only happen very rarely.

@Azurose I love that game. I’ve killed off the world countless times. I always name my plague “life”, so the popup messages are somewhat like this:

“Life to destroy humanity”
Life is the number one cause of death"
“life has been discovered”

Okay, back on topic.
Perhaps certain characters and their offspring can be immunity to certain plagues. That way, a plague will never completely kill you off, but it will be a major blow to your city.

If it did, people would never expect it, and would not make preparations for it. Then it would wipe them out.

So you want the game of Stonehearth to be a constant struggle against a plague + every other threat? Sounds like a pretty frustrating game. One that I would very rapidly become disinterested in.

I think @EpicDwarf might be referring to Plague Inc.? Or Contagion? Whatever that game’s called where you play as an illness trying to infect the world.

In terms of Stonehearth - I can see plague’s/ diseases working well as a random event, perhaps not a end game inducing event where you have no chance of recovering … but something that throws up an interesting challenge for you to overcome.

Yer, that would be rather infuriating, and probably quite redundant as all you would be doing is combating illnesses etc.

This captures my opinion very well. The plague would have to be strong enough to damage economy but not strong enough to destroy you. All the while being able to be stopped early if noticed.

key piece there… im all for random events that can devastate your settlement… but at least give me a fighting chance to combat or recover from said catastrophe… :smile:

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