                               Concept : Plague

 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.

The Empire Plague takes between 96 and 189 ETUs to run its course on land, and
twice as long on ships.  In so doing the plague goes through three stages:

Stage I -- The gestation 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 ETUs.

Stage II -- The infectious phase in which the symptoms first  appear.   During
   this  phase  the  plague  is  extremely communicable; for example, a simple
   delivery from an infectious sector will infect the destination sector.

                               Concept : Plague

Stage III -- The terminal phase in which people die.   The  number  of  people
   that  die  is  roughly  inversely proportional to the research level of the
   country (plus 100).

All three phases are of roughly equal average duration -- about 48 ETUs.

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.

   likelihood    civ + mil + uw     t_level + (iron + oil) / 10 + 100
       of     =  --------------  *  ---------------------------------
     plague            999            r_level + effic + mobil + 100

Fortunately the plague is not infectious during the gestation  stage  so  that
the most effective method for curing plague has been to isolate it by stopping
deliveries into and out of the infected sector.

                               Concept : Plague

See also : people(i).

