|
"Panic over BSE almost shut down the beef industry in the 1990s. Imports were banned and burgers were off the menu until humanity got things under control. Recently though, unforeseen protein folding has resulted in a new variant of the prion - putting the whole food chain at risk. Is now the time to go vegetarian?" — Plague Inc., Mad Cow Disease introduction paragraph |
The Mad Cow Disease, known in-game as 'v2.CJD', is a plague type and scenario in the Mutation 1.15 update. It is one of the three scenarios that are included in the update, along with Flight Club and Where Is Everyone?. The update also emphasized this scenario in the name of "Mega Moo-Tation".
Mad Cow disease has a very high severity at the beginning of the game because of the pre-evolved symptoms, being so severe the disease will be easily detected, so the cure will be developed earlier, so it is necessary to devolve certain symptoms such as Psychosis, Confusion, Memory Loss and Headache.[3] Due to the severity of the pre-evolved symptoms, having them for a certain period of time causes humans to discover the disease in at least one month in the game.[4]
Scenario Attributes
Mad Cow Disease manifests as a Prion, with v2.CJD as its default name. Confusion, Dysphagia, Headache, Memory Loss, Paranoia, Pins and Needles and Psychosis appear as pre-loaded traits.
The traits found to the northwest of the symptom panel help to primarily increase the lethality to rapidly destroy humanity such as Systematic Infection and Total Organ Failure. In the southeastern part of the symptom panel are the symptoms that relatize the cure such as Mania and Insanity. In general, it is recommended to start with the lethal symptoms to quickly destroy the public order of the infected countries and then use the cure relatizing ones to prevent the cure from being completed, because the player has a limited number of DNA points, so they can only evolve the most important ones first.[5]
One of the reasons it was characterized is because it starts with a very low infectivity, in addition to the lethality which is also low at the beginning, and the prion kills too slowly[6] so it is necessary for the disease to evolve lethal symptoms such as Total Organ Failure, Necrosis and Mania[7] at just the right time to get a good score. If the player returns all the initial symptoms of Mad Cow Disease in addition to not having Cross Human Infection evolved, the game will display a message, which is about neutralizing the disease, which will limit the player's options,[8] which only remains as a single option Acute Encephalitis, which kills the infected quickly,[Note 1] additionally, in the event that the player evolves this symptom or mutates by itself, the player will unlock the symptom "Confusion".[9]
Unlike other diseases, Mad Cow Disease has no drug resistance to spread in rich countries, so the only way to infect these countries is to use certain transmissions such as the spread of pathogens through avocados, in addition, the pre-evolved beef transmission gives the disease a little bit of a bonus to spread in rich areas. Storage Resilience transmissions replace Air and Water transmissions, in which it is necessary to use them to increase the chances of the disease being spread by boats and airplanes.This scenario does not have transmissions which help to increase infection in urban areas, so countries like China may present a problem to the player, alternatively the player can use the Coughing symptom, which gives the disease a small bonus to spread better in these types of countries. The Fish transmission acts as a kind of spore for this disease, which serves to spread to healthy islands[Note 2][10]
Initially, this disease has a weakness which is that it cannot naturally infect vegetables, so vegetarians will be safe. This can be avoided by using the Plant Dissemination ability, which unlocks new transmissions upon pathogen growth in fruits and vegetables. In the event that the disease is discovered and the ability has not evolved over time, it will cause a large number of people to become vegetarians every day, which will gradually reduce the infectivity in the world.[Note 3]
Transmissions
| Avocado | Pathogen spreads through consumption of avocado. Increases infectivity, especially in rich countries |
| Beef | Pathogen spreads through consumption of beef. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation. Popular in rich countries |
| Broccoli | Pathogen spreads through consumption of broccoli. Slightly increases infectivity |
| Dairy | Pathogen spreads through consumption of dairy products, such as milk and cheese. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation |
| Fish | Pathogen spreads through consumption of ocean travelling and farm raised fish stocks. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation |
| Frozen Storage Resilience | Cell-adapted shifts in protein structure lets pathogen thrive over long food supply chains. Increases ship and plane transmission |
| Hermetic Storage Resilience | Minor protein alterations raise chance of pathogen remaining active via long haul food suply chains. Increases ship and plane transmission |
| Insect (Mad Cow Disease) | Pathogen spreads through (accidental) consumption of insects. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation. Especially effective in arid climates |
| Lamb | Pathogen spreads through consumption of lamb and mutton. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation |
| Maize | Pathogen spreads through consumption of corn products. Increases infectivity, especially in poor countries |
| Mango | Pathogen spreads through consumption of mangos. Increases infectivity, especially in hot climates |
| Pork | Pathogen spreads through consumption of pork. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation |
| Potato | Pathogen spreads through consumption of potatoes. Increases infectivity, especially in cold climates |
| Poultry | Pathogen spreads through consumption of poultry. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation |
| Preservative Storage Resilience | Significant amino acid variances trigger rapid pathogen development when refrigerated. Increases ship and plane transmission |
| Rabbit | Pathogen spreads through consumption of rabbit. Increases infectivity and chance of mutation. Especially effective in rural countries |
| Rice | Pathogen spreads through consumption of rice. Greatly increases infectivity, especially in hot climates |
| Wheat | Pathogen spreads through consumption of wheat. Increases infectivity |
| Wild Game | Pathogen spreads through consumption of wild game. Increases infectivity across land borders and raises mutation chance |
Symptoms
| Confusion | Dopamine production stimulated to cause bouts of confusion in host. Harder to concentrate on complex work. |
| Dysphagia | Difficulty swallowing causes occasional coughing when eating. Slight increase in infectivity. |
| Headache | Strong headache behind the eyes causes discomfort and reduces ability to work. |
| Memory Loss | Recent memories become nebulous in patients, replaced with vague historical recollections. Negatively impacts cure process. |
| Paranoia | Irrational delusions and mental symptoms. Victims distrust of others makes them unlikely to seek treatment or cooperate with others. |
| Pins and Needles | Breakdown of the nervous system causes victims to experience numbing or tingling sensations in extremities. |
| Psychosis | Psychotic episodes lead to occasional bursts of extreme violence which can be lethal. Increases infectivity and slows future research speed. |
| Acute Encephalitis | Multiple inflammatory lesions in the brain triggered. Causes neurological damage resulting in death. |
Cross-Infection Traits
These are unlocked after Human Cross-infection has been obtained.
| Abscesses | Pockets of infected flesh are painful and act as breeding grounds for the pathogen, increasing infection rates when burst. |
| Ataxia | Cerebellum becomes vulnerable to infection, impairing victims' coordination, balance, and speech. |
| Blindness | Primary visual cortex disconnected causing blindness. Significantly reduced awareness and causes fatal accidents. |
| Cannibalism | Extreme Compulsion to bite or eat other humans - significantly increasing infectivity as well as lethality. |
| Coma | Neuropathic effects in the brain stem cause loss of consciousness and sometimes death. Significantly harder to cure. |
| Coughing | Chance of infection by spreading pathogen into surroundings. Especially in high density, urban areas. |
| Delirium | Reduction in cognitive function causes irrationality and paranoia. Can be fatal and significantly slows future research speed. |
| Hallucinations | Occipital lesions created, causing severe hallucinations. Lack of awareness increases transmission chance as well as risk of injury. |
| Inflammation | Inflammation obstructs bodily processes. Swelling can obstruct breathing and be fatal. |
| Insanity | Neuropathic action of the pathogen in the frontal lobe causes severe emotional and behavioural abnormalities. Significantly harder to cure. |
| Mania | Excess serotonin production triggered. Manic episodes lead to increased contact with others and inability to focus. |
| Necrosis | Large swathes of infected tissue lose blood supply and become fatal sources of gangrene. Decomposed bodies remain a vector of transmission. |
| Paralysis | Pathogen destroys motor neurons to cause paralysis. Significantly harder to cure and lethal. |
| Pneumonia | Serious fluid build and discharge from the lungs. People in cold climates especially vulnerable. |
| Pulmonary Oedema | Potentially fatal heart abnormality causes breakdown of respiratory system, releasing pathogens into the air. |
| Seizures | Random blackouts and fits reduce the patient's ability to function independently. Can be fatal |
| Systemic Infection | Pathogen affects multiple organ and tissue types, causing body-wide infections that spread fast and can be fatal. |
| Total Organ Failure | Catastrophic cell death of multiple tissue types causes body-wide organ failure and rapid death. |
Abilities
Mad Cow Disease has two unique abilities, but shares the vast majority of them with standard plagues otherwise, and additionally lacks Drug Resistance 1 as well as Drug Resistance 2.
Plant Dissemination - Adjustments to protein folding give Prion the ability to infect plant life. Unlocks new transmissions.
Human Cross-infection - Radical folds of amino acid sequence allow prion to be transferred between humans. Unlocks new symptoms.
Gallery
Recommendations
- The Japanese mobile gaming website Apprimo.info recommends to return the symptom "Acute Encephalitis" if it mutates at an early stage of the game, because it is a high severity symptom, so it makes humans alert and start to develop the cure earlier.[11]
- Depending on which areas of the world do not have a significant infection when the disease is spreading around the world, the website recommends to evolve certain plant transmissions such as Potato for areas with cold climates or Avocado for rich countries.[11]
- Using plant infection transmissions is very useful to spread the disease in countries with this climate, such as Canada, which is a rich country that normally has low temperatures.[12]
- In addition, the website recommends that if the cure is half complete, it is necessary to evolve Human Cross Infection and obtain symptoms that will slow down the cure development such as Insanity and Mania.[11]
- Depending on which areas of the world do not have a significant infection when the disease is spreading around the world, the website recommends to evolve certain plant transmissions such as Potato for areas with cold climates or Avocado for rich countries.[11]
- The Acute Encephalitis symptom is useful enough to kill the infected within a year, but being so severe it causes countries to serve their borders quickly. In addition, another useful symptom is Cannibalism, which is not as lethal as the previous symptom, but helps to increase infectivity quite a bit.[4]
- If the player starts in Saudi Arabia or Egypt for this scenario it is better to use the Insect transmission in order to be able to spread quickly in this kind of countries, because this trait gives a bonus to the disease to be able to infect better this kind of areas of the world.[13]
Trivia
- « Mad Cow Disease was a particularly intriguing scenario to put together, as we got to really think hard about what the world would look like if there was a re-emergence of the infamous 1990s outbreak. Although we naturally took the research and ran with it, so expect a few surprises as you figure out the best way to wipe out humanity via food! »
- — Quote from the game developers about this scenario (2017)[14]
- When the disease is discovered in this scenario, the game will display two messages about plague-specific information, such as the fact that the disease presents major differences from the 1990 variant of Mad Cow Disease, a real-life variant that appeared in the UK during that decade, so it makes humans not know much about the player's disease outbreak
- Additionally, when the disease is newly discovered, the game will mention that prions can't be cured in the traditional way like other pathogens, but scientists around the world will try to find a "miracle cure" by exploiting weaknesses in the prion's genetic structure. This refers to the fact that prions can't really be cured in real life but in order to maintain balance and narrative within the game, Mad Cow Disease can be cured just like the prions of the Standard Plagues.[15]
- This scenario has several government actions, most of which are the prohibition of cultivation of certain vegetables or fruits depending on which transmissions the player evolves in addition to the ban on meat production and imports.
- Potato increases infection rate in cold countries(Severaly adviced on Greenland because its the only plant growed in Greenland
- Mad Cow Disease was introduced in the Mutation 1.15 update with Flight Club and Where Is Everyone?.
- The update also emphasized this scenario as a "Mega Moo-Tation".
- It is necessary to use the Plant Dissemination ability in order to infect vegetarians, if the disease is discovered and the player has not evolved this ability, a pop-up will appear saying that a certain group of people are safe from getting infected because they do not eat meat, in order for the player to infect these people, it is necessary to use this ability.
- Integrated into this scenario is an event that happens in the fish markets of Japan that causes a "Sushi Crisis".
Disease Information Popups
Notes
- ↑ This symptom is useful when a large part of the population is infected, but not at the beginning of the game, because it kills the infected very quickly before they can come into contact with healthy people from other countries
- ↑ According to the game files, which triggers an event called "fish_infect", in which the disease can infect fish shipments to healthy countries with seaports, it is not just exclusively islands
- ↑ The way the game does this is to activate a bunch of "Government Actions", in which there are 4 in total with the name "vegetarians_unnaffected", the first one reduces by -5 the infectivity, if a country has around 60% of its population infected and the last one massively reduces the infectivity of the disease, which subtracts -30, if the infected population is 90%. (See Game Files § Government Actions (File Name: govactions_standard #56677.txt))
References
|
