constant flu makes game impossible

[Austin]

Once again I have hit the constant flu issue. Even without sending the ship exploring, I get one outbreak after another of flu, even with the beacon on there aren't enough workers. Settlement space is over 2400 but the population diminishes due to flu faster than it can be replaced. That's with what appears to be more than enough clinic facility (it's nowhere near 100% capacity), with both type 1 and type 2 medical supplies in stock.

The latest very severe flu showed mortality at 1.37% even so, but I lost about 10% of the population (close to 200 workers). Seems to me the mortality is excessive unless that mortality is per week or something. I'm now close to abandoning the game as I don't see a way around this. There's also a big negative health due to water pollution, yet all the water for the settlement is distilled, which doesn't make sense. Distilled water is inherently clean. If i was pumping water from groundwater or a lake without treating it that would be more credible. I could, I suppose do more about air pollution and dump less waste in the sea. Another thing which could be added to the game is a water treatment plant to supply clean drinking water to the settlement, which would also address the health aspect of water pollution.

Anyway looks like another game in which I can't progress beyond this point. If someone has a way to prevent the flu killing more workers than I can recruit, I'm all ears. Until then I'm done with the game until something changes. Shame as I like the game in principle but this constant flu is spoiling it.

[SpeedDaemon]

Are you treating your wastewater? With the proper research, you can get water pollution to zero, and completely remove the health malus.

For a 2400 pop settlement, you only need one treatment plant and 5-6 supporting facilities, and your only output is a little dirt and some fuel gas. You get the majority of your water back, too.

But yes, the inhabitants don't seem to have any concept of social distancing or masks :P

[Glyph]

You can eliminate water pollution the moment you unlock and utilize the wastewater treatment plant.

[Kodokuro]

Got this problem. building a hospital and suply it with medical supplies fixes all problems

[Austin]

I HAVE the hospital (clinic) with both kinds of supplies. I guess it's pollution problem, but the game is poorly built in respect of water supply, as I mentioned. If I'm running the water through a distiller to supply the city it shouldn't be a health issue unless they go swimming in the sea and insist on drinking it.

I guess I'll do waste water treatment and see what happens, maybe try to fix the air pollution too. My point about flu remains, there's constant flu after flu even if you don't send the ship out.

[jollibee]

I'm new to the game so I could be very wrong, but I believe all pollution you make effects the citizens. Both air and water pollution will have an effect and it doesn't matter if its close or far from them.

[SpeedDaemon]

I would also not be supplying Med Supplies I to your clinic if you have Med Supply II. The clinic will only use one type at a time, and if you have Med Supplies I in the top storage slot, you've actually been using only Med I the whole time, and they reduce mortality by 0.6% vs. 1.0% for Med II.

Dumping a 2k settlement's ~100/mo wastewater generates 100 water pollution, which is a -10 to your health. When your health goes negative, -10 health is an additional 1% mortality.

Treating your water and making sure you're actually using Med II vs. Med I in your clinic can reduce your mortality by 1.4%, plus another 0.5% due to Med II supplying an additional +5 health over Med I. Based on your original post, that would completely compensate for the -1.37% you get during the flu.

The natural growth from positive health is only +0.01% for each 10 health, while mortality from negative is -0.1% for each -1 health, which can easily overwhelm your natural growth if you don't manage it.

[Gottchar]

Mortaiity is per month, and a flu usually lasts multiple. So 5 months of 2% mortality will cost you close to 10% of your people.

Water pollution is not about the water your people get from the water facility, it is about how much polluted water (and toxic slurry, acid, sour water) you dump in the ocean. This is globally, so whether you do it close or far from the settlement does not matter.

Water pollution is somewhat easy to get to zero, once you treat wastewater from the settlement and make rubber without using coal. Eliminating air pollution takes MUCH longer, and just some reduction should be the goal.

You already do what you can with the medicine, try to have supply consistent and remember they will need more when there is sickness. Unless you need the extra unity, have a warehouse as buffer between med production and the clinic, and simply turn the clinic off in healthy times. medicine during healthy times is only a unity bonus and a slight increase in pop growth. making sure your people dont die during flu is like higher priority, so if you cant have it available at all times, at least have it available during flu.

And, I know it is obvious, try to have more workers than you need, and maybe already check which machines are easiest to keep idle in times of need. You may want to set all production of construction parts, and their exclusive supply lines, to lower priority, so that if you are too low on workers, you stop making trucks, instead of stopping to create food and clean water.

[Captain Zuff]

Hi Austin!

Sorry you're having problems with this, could you send me your save file so we can take a look?

You'll find your saved games in "Documents\Captain of Industry\Saves" and you can email it with a brief description (or a link to this thread) to [e-mail]

Thanks!

[Kaery]

Originally posted by Austin:

<snip>
I guess it's pollution problem, but the game is poorly built in respect of water supply, as I mentioned. If I'm running the water through a distiller to supply the city it shouldn't be a health issue unless they go swimming in the sea and insist on drinking it.
<snip>

The 'problem' with the water supply is this: The game does not differentiate between water from different sources. Water is water, no matter if you pumped groundwater, distilled seawater, reclaimed steam or whatever else you did. So water pollution still affects your people no matter where you got the water for them from. Acid rain, perhaps? Who knows.

Anyways. What liquids are you still dumping that you have water pollution at all when you are far enough along that you have medical supplies? If wastewater, build a wastewater treatment plant, as people said. It's main cost is workers, the rest of the stuff supplied to it is quite easy to do. Use the improved recipe if you can. Put the sludge through a fermenter.

I can't think of much else you could be dumping at that point in the game... Sour water should be becoming sulfur, make the sulfur into slag if it overflows. Can't think of anything else right now that would create water pollution. Toxic slurry? Can also go through a (separate) water treatment plant.

[jamiechi]

I think it would be nice to have the water polution work in a similar fashion to Cities Skylines. In that game water polution is visible and easier to notice where to fix things. A map view that shows the pollution effect areas, like Factorio would also be helpful in this case.

As for the OP, the Captain of Cheats mod lets one disable this. I use it myself. I prefer to play a factory simulation game, not a hospital simulator.

[Gottchar]

Originally posted by jamiechi:

I think it would be nice to have the water polution work in a similar fashion to Cities Skylines. In that game water polution is visible and easier to notice where to fix things. A map view that shows the pollution effect areas, like Factorio would also be helpful in this case.

As for the OP, the Captain of Cheats mod lets one disable this. I use it myself. I prefer to play a factory simulation game, not a hospital simulator.

makes little sense to show "where the pollution is" when pollution is global.

[Kaery]

Where the pollution is could highlight pollution producing structures... But smokestacks and the liquid dumps are actually quite noticeable, in my opinion?

[SpeedDaemon]

Originally posted by Kaery:

Where the pollution is could highlight pollution producing structures... But smokestacks and the liquid dumps are actually quite noticeable, in my opinion?

An overlay similar to (or integrated into) the resource one would work well for highlighting pollution sources and their magnitude.

[jamiechi]

Originally posted by Gottchar:

Originally posted by jamiechi:

I think it would be nice to have the water polution work in a similar fashion to Cities Skylines. In that game water polution is visible and easier to notice where to fix things. A map view that shows the pollution effect areas, like Factorio would also be helpful in this case.

As for the OP, the Captain of Cheats mod lets one disable this. I use it myself. I prefer to play a factory simulation game, not a hospital simulator.

makes little sense to show "where the pollution is" when pollution is global.

Maybe I should Clarify my post. The Game needs to be changed so that the pollution effects are not global and spread from the origin points. Like many other games do. Maybe like how pollution works in Factorio or Cities Skylines.

Of coarse showing the pollution on a map would not be of much use without changing the game in this manner.

[Gottchar]

Originally posted by jamiechi:

Originally posted by Gottchar:

The Game needs to be changed so that the pollution effects are not global

I think that is a horrible idea, leading to people building large pipes to the other end of the island to vent their pollution into the air and water there. Essentially bypassing the whole pollution mechanic in the most lame and boring way possible, instead of using the current ways of reuse/reduce/recycle available, which work very well.