.TH Concept Plague
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Plague is used in Empire to symbolize all forms of disease and is
the only health hazard associated with the Empire game, (ignoring
it's effects on the players).
The characteristics of plague are, therefore, a compromise of disease
features (or "bugs").
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The Empire Plague takes between 96 and 189 time units to
run its course on land, (i.e. 2 to 4 days in any particular sector
if an Empire time unit is 1/2 and hour),
and twice as long on ships, (4 to 8 days).
In so doing the plague goes through three stages:
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Stage I -- The gestatory or incubation phase in which no symptoms appear.
Sectors or ships that are in this stage of the plague are indistinguishable
from healthy sectors or ships.  This stage lasts 32 to 63 time units,
(less than a day and a half).
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Stage II -- The infectious phase in which the symptoms first appear --
orange blotches on the face and hands, sometimes accompanied
by grey stripes on the genitalia, itching of the liver and spleen,
an uncontrollable fear of ripe tomatoes, etc.
During this phase the plague is extremely communicable;
for example, a simple delivery from an infectious sector
will infect the destination sector.
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Stage II -- The terminal phase in which people die,
often in the act of fleeing from (real or imagined) tomatoes.
The number of people that die is roughly inversely proportional
to the research level of the country (plus 100).
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All three phases are of roughly equal average duration,
(about 48 time periods or 1 day).
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Plague usually arises in countries with high technological development
and comparatively little medical research.  It arises specifically
in sectors with high population density and low efficiency.
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Recently archaeologists have uncovered a treatise by a
Dr. M. Welby entitled "Demographic considerations and
the Empire Plague".  In part it states:
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.ll 5.5i
It appeared that our original hypothesis based on the high percentage
of Lumbagan Legionnaires among the afflicted had led us down a blind
alley and that if we were to solve this complex puzzle before the
end of the series in the spring \*[possibly a reference to the series
of tests leading to the mysterious "Neilson Rating"\*] we would have to
turn to other disciplines for help.  It was only by the merest
lucky coincidence that as I drove home one evening ...
\*[here Dr. Welby relates
an amusing anecdote about a Brownie Scout and the director
of a film entitled "Close Encounters of the Third Grade"\*] ... leading
us to the following amazing formulation of the relationship between
medical research, technology, population, standard of living and
the Empire Plague:
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likelihood    civ + mil     t_level + (iron + oil) / 10 + 100
    of     =  ---------  *  ---------------------------------
  plague         999          r_level + effic + mobil + 100
.FI
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Later formulations of this relationship show great similarity
to his statement (see info "innards").
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Many researchers have commented on the surprising lack of correlation
between food supply and plague outbreak.
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Fortunately the plague is not infectious during the gestatory stage
so that the most effective method for curing plague has been to
isolate it by emptying adjoining sectors during the gestation period.
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See also : innards, research, sector-types, technology
