Matrix Games Forums

I did an Internet search and found a thread a couple of years old indicating that plagues were incurable. Is this still the case?

I've just been hit with one for the first time, and it has wiped out over 70 percent of the population I have grown since the start of the game. Every colony it hit went down to under 20m pop - most to 1m. If it had hit my home system, I think it would have been game over, which is a bit worrying.

Having a medical complex on an orbiting space station helps deter/fight plagues.I also add them in my defense platforms as a just in case it helps measure.

I forgot to add that orbiting ships with a med complex onboard is helpful also.

Hello Osito and welcome to the forums!

Unfortunately it is still the case. But here is some information for you to use.

First, when a plague hits, to minimize the spreading to other colonies, change your colony's
settings to 'Do Not Accept'. This will keep plague-stricken colonists on the planet and
they won't board any passenger ships used for migration.

Second, research the tech branch in the Energy & Construction area. You want to acquire the ability
to build the 'Terraforming Facility' which, when built, will help improve the quality rating of the
planet that the plague diminished. Although it will never improve it back to what it was.

Third, monitor the affected colony. Once the plague has ran it's course, reset the settings to your
liking and lower the tax rate to 0% to help grow the population faster.

Just some tips I've found to help concerning plagues. Hope it helps! [:)]

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
First, when a plague hits, to minimize the spreading to other colonies, change your colony's
settings to 'Do Not Accept'. This will keep plague-stricken colonists on the planet and
they won't board any passenger ships used for migration.

Useless. Migration settings do not affect your own race - by far the most common race in the player's empire in the vast majority of games.

Additionally, I haven't seen any relation between plague spreading and passenger ship activity. It seems to be independent of ship activity. I seem to recall having it pop up and spread without having any ships at the affected planets.

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
Second, research the tech branch in the Energy & Construction area. You want to acquire the ability
to build the 'Terraforming Facility' which, when built, will help improve the quality rating of the
planet that the plague diminished. Although it will never improve it back to what it was.

First off, Energy & Construction has no "Terraforming Facility" in it. It's in the "High Tech" area. Specifically, it becomes available one you research the second level of colonization technology - be it Ocean or Desert colonization.
Second, I don't recall plagues causing planet quality reduction. It kills off the population - that's all. Do you have anything to substantiate your claim of "planet quality damage"?

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
Third, monitor the affected colony. Once the plague has ran it's course, reset the settings to your
liking and lower the tax rate to 0% to help grow the population faster.

The sole item of advice here that's of any value.

ORIGINAL: KAHUNA

Having a medical complex on an orbiting space station helps deter/fight plagues.I also add them in my defense platforms as a just in case it helps measure.

Medical facilities do not help with plagues.

I stand corrected...evidently I've had enormous luck in my games where I have med complexes as I stated above and altho I've had a few plagues they were not crippling to the extent I couldnt make recoveries.I put that down to my amazing doctors but I guess it was due to my people's hardiness instead[:)]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
First, when a plague hits, to minimize the spreading to other colonies, change your colony's
settings to 'Do Not Accept'. This will keep plague-stricken colonists on the planet and
they won't board any passenger ships used for migration.

Useless. Migration settings do not affect your own race - by far the most common race in the player's empire in the vast majority of games.

Additionally, I haven't seen any relation between plague spreading and passenger ship activity. It seems to be independent of ship activity. I seem to recall having it pop up and spread without having any ships at the affected planets.

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
Second, research the tech branch in the Energy & Construction area. You want to acquire the ability
to build the 'Terraforming Facility' which, when built, will help improve the quality rating of the
planet that the plague diminished. Although it will never improve it back to what it was.

First off, Energy & Construction has no "Terraforming Facility" in it. It's in the "High Tech" area. Specifically, it becomes available one you research the second level of colonization technology - be it Ocean or Desert colonization.
Second, I don't recall plagues causing planet quality reduction. It kills off the population - that's all. Do you have anything to substantiate your claim of "planet quality damage"?

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
Third, monitor the affected colony. Once the plague has ran it's course, reset the settings to your
liking and lower the tax rate to 0% to help grow the population faster.

The sole item of advice here that's of any value.

Hello Kayoz;
I stand corrected, Kayoz is correct concerning the tech tree. The Terraforming Facility IS in the High
Tech Section NOT the Energy & Construction. Thanks for the correction!

Concerning the planet quality reduction, I unfortunately have no save games to provide proof for you, but I have had occasions where planet quality was lowered by a plague event similar to (but not as severe) as a disaster event.

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1

Concerning the planet quality reduction, I unfortunately have no save games to provide proof for you, but I have had occasions where planet quality was lowered by a plague event similar to (but not as severe) as a disaster event.

What?! No evidence and just your unsubstantiated claims?!! Then surely you opinion is totally meaningless....[;)]

ORIGINAL: Webbco

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1

Concerning the planet quality reduction, I unfortunately have no save games to provide proof for you, but I have had occasions where planet quality was lowered by a plague event similar to (but not as severe) as a disaster event.

What?! No evidence and just your unsubstantiated claims?!! Then surely you opinion is totally meaningless....[;)]

Funny Webbco.....fortunately the only one I need to supply substantiated savegames to is Elliot! [;)]
Thanks for the laugh!

ORIGINAL: Webbco
What?! No evidence and just your unsubstantiated claims?!! Then surely you opinion is totally meaningless....[;)]

I fired up DW and waited (not too long) for the plague event. I didn't see any change in planet quality that eh saw - just population growth at 0% and pop dropped to 10m. I'm not sure what caused eh's quality reduction, but I doubt it was due to plague.

If eh has something to substantiate his claim of planet quality degradation, I would very much like to see it. Otherwise, I'll have to allocate it the same reliability as his other bits of advice.

There are many different plagues, though. Better wait for all of them [:'(]

I don't think they affect quality either, but I am not sure.

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

Medical facilities do not help with plagues.

That's a shame - Would have been nice if it helped a slight bit.

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1
Funny Webbco.....fortunately the only one I need to supply substantiated savegames to is Elliot! [;)]
Thanks for the laugh!

Your comments are, as usual, completely worthless.

Screencap is from a colony that's been reduced from 200m, and the plague is nearly done. No change to planet quality.

Well done, ehsumrell1 - nobody can say you aren't consistent.

I don't think anyone can say you aren't consistent either, Kayoz.

ORIGINAL: Ralzakark

I don't think anyone can say you aren't consistent either, Kayoz.

It would be a shame not to feed my inner schadenfreude. ehsumrell1 is always good for a snack.

Just for the record, I don't think your comments are worthless, ehsumrell....and you're constant teasing of the elusive Data makes me chuckle [:)]

Important to know how to have fun on a game forum!

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I think the fact that people have different views on what is correct shows how hard it is to understand what's going on in this game. For example, if it weren't for the older post (which Kayoz referenced; this is the one I'd seen too), how would we know that medical bases don't help with plagues? It seems kinda logical that the might have some benefit.

Also (and this is what I was getting at in my original post), how do we know they don't help now? If you look at ER's post of 11/24/2011, he says:

"That being said, it's probably worth adding a few more things that you can do to influence the outcome in the future."

That was 18 months ago. Do we know for sure whether anything regarding the handling of plagues has been changed since then? Do we know whether medical facilities now help? From the answers I've seen, I guess not.

The main problem for me with the plague was that it travelled to other systems. I was wondering whether there is a way to restrict this. For example, if you stop sending your own ships to the plagued system, would that in any way effect the probability of transmission to other systems? I don't know the answer to that, either. In any event, I can't see any way to stop private ships going to the plagued system, so maybe the point is moot.

Plaques are not ment to be easily dealt with a simple solution medical facility.Every base has them so it would make the event pointless.

Time is the healer so suck it up.

Completely mitigate a plague? No
Lessen the problem to an extent? Yes (Could mean an increased budget cost)

From a pure "this makes sense" point of view. Having better medical facilities a player would expect it to help in some way or other - the alternative (Only basic medical care) is scary.