Need Disease Ideas

[Athanasa]

I'm thinking of making a mod that adds some new 'fun' (horrible) diseases into the game, which actually impact on your game (rather than just being debuffs). Stuff like shivering, where your screen occasionally shakes slightly / blurs as your character shivers from fever, or the screen darkens/brightens and blurs in pulses as your character suffers from extreme dehydration and sleep deprivation.

 

Thing is, I've been trying to research diseases, and they pretty much seem to boil down to the basic human response to infection / trauma: Fever and vomiting/diarrhoea. Now, I'm not going to have characters projectile soiling themselves in the wasteland (although sudden losses of food / water?), but it's all very same-y.

 

I don't want it to just be Fever Simulator: 2272, or whatever the date is.

 

 

I've found a few interesting diseases / afflictions that have more potential - tetanus, tinnitus, typhus, radiation induced ataxia, malaria.... But I need more diseases.

 

 

 

 

Anyone have any disease suggestions, or some fictional disease ideas?

[montky]

@athanasa

what a diabolical way to start 2017 - interesting concept!

the mole-rat disease was pretty trivial all things considered, to save austin or get 1 extra hp... it was a dilemma

though, there was a lot of potential there for micromanagement on top of the weapon-upkeep system and 'any mod any fail' etc.

every combat, you'd be weighing up the cost vs pros.. much more like an RTS and old school Fallout!

this could add a lot to narrative in FO4.

 

if NPCs interacted differently to the PC based on that...

or, it could be a window into other things etc. a passive preventative aspect to the FORPG side of things.

a very neat idea indeed, thanks for sharing Athanasa.

 

does it have to be solely a disease, or can it be any kind of 'affliction'?

the center for epidemiology and humint biosecurity futures offer some ideas.

FORPG is also a great source.

 

///tangent in no particular order.

New Plague - this disease was a biological weapon from before 2077;

even in 2280s, it is still a very real threat to much of the world.

an 'accidental' release in the 2050s was a pretense for US Isolationism... (FO:bible)

variants would become FEV, and the opt-in to survive (OITS) virus.

this would be horrific and very lethal over a period of a day or so, as the immune system shuts down.

only CVRIE or maybe Virgil could treat this. You get this, you're a goner.

conditional -5 to all SPECIAL, AP and HP drain for 18hrs until dead. hallucinations auditory and visual are common -screen changes color etc,

Mythic Deathclaws are known vectors, as are some Centaurs and glowing ones... usually passed aerially via a cloud of spores.

 

Hibernation Sickness - an homage to an effect from carbonaceous cryofreeze,

waking up 200 years after an apocalypse takes more than a psychological toll...

-2 to all SPECIAL until treated by CVRIE or a specialist at Enclave, Institute or BoS.

-25% move speed, aiming reticle more unsteady after each shot.

 

Localized Necrosis - supermutants and some ghouls, when they attack or bite, the tissues never quite heal properly.

this makes the Player Character emit a smell, making stealth near Ghouls and Supermutants much harder -

some say, it causes random attacks to those afflicted too...

and unfortunately, a -1 to charisma... in a world of bad smells, Localized Necrosis is quite distinctive.

very difficult to treat, though CVRIE, the doctors at Diamond City or Institute could remove this... for quite a lot of time and money.

 

Anchorage Fever - seeing duty in Anchorage and prior deployments before 2077,

you have been exposed to poisonous petrochemical fumes and EMR.

this causes you to experience auditory and visual hallucinations when near environments reminiscent of Anchorage,

particularly near K21b, the corvega factory, and confined spaces such as vaults...

- situational "over encumbered", aim-reticle is random-walk across screen and constant shaken for duration of "anchorage fever".

Dr Amari at the Memory Den or the Institute can treat this.

 

Mutagenic Dependency - bringing back the cannibalism perks from past games, and vampire perks... you have to consume mutagenic materials regularly, or begin to degenerate. only centaurs, rad ghouls or similar contain what you need. no other foods will replenish AP or HP.

this also causes your SPECIAL stats to vary by 3 pts or so every 1hr of in-game time.

ie

a 5,5,5,5,5,5,5 character could be +/- 3 to all stats. say 8,2,6,5,4,3,7 etc.

(maybe, this is an array function from OEIS - your stats are different sequences mod 7, or nPr in xml)

This can be treated by an autodoc, CVRIE or the institute.

 

Venereal Disease - its not the end of the world, well... it sorta is... but you beat that, so you can beat this too.

you cannot obtain the 'lovers embrace' conditional perk (except from synth companions), -1 charisma, -1 endurance.

depending on the source, it may be treatable or a permanent modifier...

you may also have to explain to your companion/s and have that awkward chat that has to be had, in order to make sure they dont perish.

 

Virgil's FEV infection -

it is possible to omit telling Virgil you found his serum,

it just sits there clogging your inventory...

what if the player character could use it? and become a supermutant themselves!

immune to radiation, and with a fortified constitution and healing factor, it could have it's upsides.

though, you would have a charisma and int penalty.

you can no-longer use regular clothes or powerarmor, though you can wear super mutant armor.

you are villified by many factions, particularly Diamond City, Enclave, Institute and probably BoS.

Virgil would probably hate you,

Strong, Marcus and Fawkes would be virtually your only friends.

 

congenital blindness - you've been blind since birth -

vision is in an abstract pseudorandom filter superimposed over the gamefootage.

(see bjork's 'visualizing blindness" display)

 

Weakened Immune Response - life in a vault or the Enclave/Institute has weakened the exposure to different bacteria etc,

this makes people suffer more from potential infections etc.

 

Asthma - overexertion can be fatal. know your limits, plan ahead and be prepared.

AP replenishes slower, and if you have 0 AP after running for a period or doing a lot of activity,

your character will require Med X or Ventalin to survive, or they'll take damage until 0 HP.

not wearing ventilation helmets with filters will also cause this...

 

chronic fatigue syndrome/sleep apnia -

sleep takes twice as long to restore half as much, and you get tired quicker.

short of transferal to a synth... there's not a lot you can do. stimulants and exercise/diet sorta offset it, though the law of diminishing returns might apply.

 

narcolepsy- you fall asleep at random intervals, for random durations.

 

seizures - you have blackouts or loss of ability to aim etc

this is treatable at memory den, institute or BoS.

 

Allergy-anaphylaxis - particular foods can be lethal to you, others causing adverse effects.

in a world post 2077, between mutation and gmo, it can be hard to tell what food does what to you...

if you can't tell where your food has come from, don't eat it.

- random damage from foods, the trace food is set when the perk is acquired, and anything that has primarily that, causes instant fatality.

 

Symbiotic Sludge -

this can be encountered near Covenant, Natick Poseidon Factory, or any Poseidon, or the Genetek...

your epidermis slowly is encased in a dark UV emitting coating.

while this increases your ballistic and radiation resistance with time...

it comes at the cost of mobility and targetting accuracy - you will eventually be reduced to 10% of speed and AP.

removing this sludge will take specialists from the BoS, Enclave or Institute,

and it will cause permanent immune system damage...

 

Gary-itis.

Rumored to be an affliction of those who were bitten by a Gary... at least, that's what all those signs in V75 said.

you become Gary after 1 in-game week. this sets all factions - apart from 'gary', against you.

You do not want to find out if those rumors are true, as that would be a fate worse than death.

Gary, gary? Gary!

 

Harold's Syndrome -

prolonged cumulative exposure to FEV laced mutifruit will eventually turn you into Harold.

on the upside, you turn into a productive Mutifruit tree, after 200 years or so...

on the downside, unless you plant yourself in a robobrain, you kinda become stuck.

 

-----

I hope there are some ideas that are of use to you,

and I look forward to seeing what other folks come up with.

[Athanasa]

Good ideas in there, although I'm going to avoid anything downright lethal or game ending, as well as anything genetic or "life long".

[bLakZmOkeareOoouYyye]

A disease that gives constant jet saturation without slowed time.

 

Caught from dirty needles and prostitutes.

 

Uncurable but treat symptoms with mentats

 

 

And it's called raider's high

Edited January 8, 2017 by bLakZmOkeareOoouYyye

[Athanasa]

Caught from dirty needles and prostitutes.

 

Oooh, good idea. I hadn't even thought of stuff got from taking drugs - not just addictions, but other weird brain altering stuff.

[azurkryptos]

Just stumbled into this threat. These Ideas are awesome, including the deadly without treatment and lifelong hobbling ones (on these I could see a random role on game start). I really hope to see this mod come to fruition.

[Athanasa]

Genuinely surprised by people wanting lifelong afflictions for their characters. I'll try to put them in as optional things (activate by holodisk on exciting the vault) - that seems to make the most sense.

[TheRealErikMalkavian]

There is always Rabies(If not mentioned yet) from the various bites you get from the dogs and ghouls. VERY nasty illness and would have be treated by a Physician over time and cost caps a plenty for each treatment.

 

Effects: violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, fear of water, an inability to move parts of the body, confusion, and loss of consciousness.