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Update to Sickness and Immunity


Drewbc

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I think sickness could use an update, I don't know about you guys. The way things currently are, sickness comes from having 2 of the same immunity genes (being too inbred), sleeping sickness from mosquitoes, or from another creature. So I thought, how do you get sick irl? Besides the previously mentioned ones, contact with the infected and insects/parasites, there's also getting hurt. What if anytime a creature got hurt there was a 50/50 chance of it also getting infected/sick, and a 100% chance if their immunity is the same. Also the sickness should last twice as long if they've double immunity genes (let's deter inbreeding).

 

Another way a creature can get sick is being out alone in the rain/snow. Maybe you'd get a warning a day or two in advance that a storm is coming. Sometimes you can smell rain before it arrives, plus animals have a 6th sense for that sort of thing. When the rain/snow comes, if your creature isn't next to another creature (for warmth) or under a tree, they catch a cold (that's twice as bad for the immunally challenged lol).

 

But a change to sickness warrants a change to immunity. One thing I've always thought is that the inbreeding coefficient isn't well represented. To start, why not make it so your starting pairs' ABCD immunity genes are unique. No creature you run into will ever have the same immunity as your Adam and Eve. This brings up the second point, what if wild/rogue creatures in each biome had their own immunity genes (instead of it being random). So grasslands have 2 or 3 or 4 unique Immunity genes, jungle has 2-4 new ones, snowy mountains, 2-4 new ones. That way, if you do manage to inbreed too much, you know it's your fault and not because on a random island you find a totally new creature with the big body and antlers you want, but they somehow have the same immunity as your creatures.

 

Oh and the fertility of an inbred (double immunity) should be lowered a stage. Like if they mate with a sibling or parent, the offspring's fertility will go from high/high to normal/normal or normal/normal to low/low. To incentivize bringing some fresh genes into the pack. And genes like deformed paw, blindness, and derp-snout also have a higher chance of rearing their ugly heads the more you inbreed.

 

And on a side note, about rogue males, why don't you make it so they won't touch your females if she is either next to one of your males or next to a baby.

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I like the sound of your idea. About the catching a cold while in rain or snow I think that should depend on how cold resitant the creature is and on what biome they are on.

So creatures in the savannah or oasis would probably like a little bit of rain and wouldn't get sick from rain as it is very warm, much like you don't get sick from rain in summer. On the medium islands there should be like a 50% chance for creatures with low cold resistance (big ears, lean body) to get sick and for medium body creatures like 25% and big body creatures 10% or some other percentages. That same thing would count for the mountains just that creatures with heat resistance and no cold resistance would get sick a lot. Because a creature with high cold resistance wouldn't catch a cold from rain or snow that easily, same when you are out in the rain with a jacket, you don't get cold immediatly.

 

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I like the idea of variable illness sources, and I agree that cold resistance should have an impact on weather illness's. Could even create more variance to the effects, like a particular sickness results in the nicheling eating more to keep it's strength up, or some such.

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It is not possible to catch a virus from being cold or wet. That's just not how viruses work. Viruses are only able to reproduce inside living cells - they aren't found in rainwater or snow.

 

Being cold does lower people's immunity to certain viruses, but it is not the cause of the common cold or flu. Some viruses simply reproduce better at temperatures that are slightly colder then our average body temperature. But the virus already needs to be in your system for that to happen. So a nichling having higher cold-temperature resistance wouldn't really have any effect on a virus. In fact realistically, having animals close together during the bad weather would likely increase the chance of one or more of them getting sick. That's one theory as to why colds are so prevalent among humans in cold weather - because so many people stay indoors there's more chances you'll come in contact with those viruses there.

 

No matter how cold they were, the only way for an animal to catch a virus is if they came in contact with the virus in the first place. I hope that makes some sense?

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I like the sound of your idea. About the catching a cold while in rain or snow I think that should depend on how cold resitant the creature is and on what biome they are on.

So creatures in the savannah or oasis would probably like a little bit of rain and wouldn't get sick from rain as it is very warm, much like you don't get sick from rain in summer. On the medium islands there should be like a 50% chance for creatures with low cold resistance (big ears, lean body) to get sick and for medium body creatures like 25% and big body creatures 10% or some other percentages. That same thing would count for the mountains just that creatures with heat resistance and no cold resistance would get sick a lot. Because a creature with high cold resistance wouldn't catch a cold from rain or snow that easily, same when you are out in the rain with a jacket, you don't get cold immediatly.

Oh yeah. I definitely agree. Body size and heat and cold resistance are definitely important factors. And those percentages work as well.
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It is not possible to catch a virus from being cold or wet. That's just not how viruses work. Viruses are only able to reproduce inside living cells - they aren't found in rainwater or snow.

 

Being cold does lower people's immunity to certain viruses, but it is not the cause of the common cold or flu. Some viruses simply reproduce better at temperatures that are slightly colder then our average body temperature. But the virus already needs to be in your system for that to happen. So a nichling having higher cold-temperature resistance wouldn't really have any effect on a virus. In fact realistically, having animals close together during the bad weather would likely increase the chance of one or more of them getting sick. That's one theory as to why colds are so prevalent among humans in cold weather - because so many people stay indoors there's more chances you'll come in contact with those viruses there.

 

No matter how cold they were, the only way for an animal to catch a virus is if they came in contact with the virus in the first place. I hope that makes some sense?

True there are viruses (which cause colds and flu's) and bacteria (which can cause disease) already inside us. We pick them up just by living our day to day lives. But in both cases, they are opportunistic (like E. coli which naturally lives in our guts), and only cause sickness when our immune systems have been compromised or weakened due to some environmental stressor. Believe me, I get it, I've taken Bio 101, so you're preaching to the choir. However these stressors include sudden temperature changes, which is why people get sick between seasons. Yeah the ultimate causes of many colds and sicknesses are viruses and bacteria, but they're no match for a perfectly healthy immune system. It takes a almost always stressor.
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If the star gene helps with immunity maybe Adam should have a Star with an A in it gene., then use a Star with a B in it for the Bear Hyena's  gene. These are examples of current genes that  could be combined.

 

There should be at least  one immunity  / star gene per island to help with their survival.

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If the star gene helps with immunity maybe Adam should have a Star with an A in it gene., then use a Star with a B in it for the Bear Hyena's  gene. These are examples of current genes that  could be combined.

 

There should be at least  one immunity  / star gene per island to help with their survival.

This would be really cool. An island-specific immunity gene that could help with an aspect of their survival on each biome. Maybe immunity for the swamp biome could grant immunity to sleeping sickness from those flies/mosquitoes.
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