Being infected shouldn't make you explode and die!! I have a better solution!!

[Inverse Effect]

So here is the best way to handle being infected. Instead of exploding and dying after a certain time. Instead as an infected character your mission simply changes to needing to escape while being infected. (None infected lose if they board with a infected player. This way you can keep playing. And have a different set of goals to achieve victory. (Vacation still can cure it if you catch it in time)

Also then, if you happen to die as infected player then your explode into the alien and can attack and infect other players the violent way like we can do currently when you die.

Finally this makes the whole blood testing mechanism more important. Especially towards the end before evac. And would mimic the tension like in the Thing 1982 blood test scene. And create some good gameplay moments.

How would you go about infecting other players while infected yourself? Maybe extended close proximity to none infected would gradually do it. As the 1982 movie the Thing can infect others by tainted food or other contact means.

Alternatively also adding a new healing item "Canned food" heals less than the pills and doesn't restore your temp, but if an infected drops it or gives it to you, then that would be a way of spreading the infection.

This would I think add more depth to the current infected gameplay.

[Inverse Effect]

i wanna add too that Reinforcements still work the same providing you die quickly enough from something that you never got chance to be infected to begin with. And besides there's numerous ways to die already and be able to be called back in.

Also as a infected player you can burst out into the monster at any time (it blows your cover) but allows for a quick and violent assimilation.

Further more there could be a whole new set of perks to unlock for when your specifically infected. To cap it all off, I think this whole system rework for when being infected would make getting to the end if you're human or not feel more rewarding and make it so that evac comes with its own risks and rewards