Medicine specialty branch
Felipe Jiménez
Adding a whole new branch of specialty that focuses on medicine. Starting with herbal remedies foraged in the different biomes (flowers, fungi, even bark of trees). Moving on to slightly more complex medicine, maybe some chemistry necessary in the laboratory. And finally reaching inoculation, nutrient supplementation, and antibiotics. Adding a branch of technology like this also open the door to adding different mechanics, although I had understood that damage per se is not something that devs want to add to the game, but maybe falling from height has a chance of breaking a bone, and now walking consumes more calories or makes you unable to add labor. You would need to go to one of this new specialist for a cast (a consumable), or a animal can bite you and you need a bandage, or you cut yourself while chopping down trees, or while cooking. You could even add that eating raw foods/lower tier food has a chance of causing a digestive infection, or you are randomly assigned to be allergic to certain food. Or regarding global event like natural catastrophes, a pandemic that requires certain resources to research, similar to how annexation works, for someone to find a cure/vaccine.
Idk, something I’ve thought during my 1.7k hours in the game. I think it would make the gameplay more interesting while also increasing realism
D
Dennis Scholz
Merged in a post:
Diseases (basic)
La Ma
We need more consequences for what we are doing ingame. One of thus would be adding diseases to the game.
For an example, when you drink unclean water, you can become sick of it. Polluting the air might limit the capabilities of your lungs. Walking in a cold biome without proper clothes could give u the flu.
As a death mechanic would be quite difficult to implement in such a game (don't have a solution for this now), the character would suffer other disadvantages from that. The character might need to stop running every few seconds bcs they are faster exhausted bcs of the flu or the damaged lung. Exhaustion leads to lower movement and work speed or more hunger and thirst. In serious cases, characters could get a permanent damage to a skill or become more vulnerable to future diseases.
To counter act that, this feature needs to come with a doctor profession.
Really this game is for me all about the interaction: actions vs. consequences. If you are having a healthy diet and protecting your environent, sicknesses will be more rare. And if you still catch one: learn to see the signs and go to the doctor :)
M
Michael R Hanson
Although I can vividly picture a hospital existing in Eco, I don't think having player injuries would be fun, I imagine it'd just feel like a chore that interrupts you from being a helpful member of society at random and inopportune times.
Food allergies, crop blights, and (animal-only) diseases all sound like they could fit that niche pretty well though.
Pandemics between players I'm iffy about. It'd be cool to have a 3rd way for the world to end between the meteor and pollution. But it'd feel weird to be punished for coming close to other people. Eco is really good at propelling social interaction, which would be lost if you were incentivized to social distance from other players.
Jason
Michael R Hanson: Yeah, I think from a player fun perspective it's important to avoid illnesses being "random", especially in a way that feels punitive. I would avoid things like fall damage or animal bites because it makes players feel wary (it's already annoying enough when your cart falls into the river). Negative effects should be mild not than debilitating.
I do like Ryan's suggestion of smog-related health issues. I think maybe one way to implement "health" would be, not exactly a health bar, but maybe something tied into the existing XP system with positive and negative points similar to the food system. For example:
-3: smog
-3: occupational stress (20% mining, 30% chopping)
+1: age (score becomes negative over time; endgame population eventually needs advanced medical care)
+1: balanced diet
+2: doctor's visit
+1: massage chair
The pluses/minuses would roll off over time on their own, but medicine could help negate some of the negatives. Also, XP (in general, including for food/housing) should probably impact other aspects of the game besides leveling, but that's a different discussion.
Ryan Kandrnal
A medical profession could open up a lot of content for the game. Aside from treating people, plants and animals also suffer from illness too. Add blights that wipe out trees and crops. Diseases for animals. Both would add a way for life to go extinct without player intervention and also help curb out-of-control plant growth.
Antibiotics are great! Until everything becomes resistant to it, better make a stronger one... Vaccines are expensive to develop, but if the government doesn't want a pandemic on its hands, they better fund its development and distribute it.
Breathing in that sweet sweet industrial smog every morning? Yeah that's probably not good for you, better get that cough checked out.
To keep the doctor relevant when nothing medically crazy is going on, they also need something they can produce that is economically useful. For example late-game they can upgrade regular seeds to GMO seeds.