Line #6 Headscratchers/Pandemic


1	* It is possible to have a disease that has no symptoms, meaning it has zero visibility. But for some reason countries will STILL close their borders and shut down airports and harbors. Why? A disease with no symptoms isn't noticeable! Are they just going off a hunch or something? If I feel exactly the same today as I did yesterday what in the world would make me think all of a sudden I'm infected with a super disease? Doesn't make any sense...
2	** People presumably go to the doctor for reasons other than your disease, so it's still possible that the pathogen would be detected by chance. If it turns out that half the population in a particular country is infected with a parasite, even a seemingly harmless one, then people are going to get worried.
3	*** Um... most parts of the human body are swarming with countless different species of benign microorganisms (gut flora, mouth amoeba, etc., etc.). New strains are popping up every once in a while, and should never cause a doctor to worry. So that argument doesn't really work.
4	*** The ''exact same'' pathogen in ''hundreds of thousands'' of citizens? Bitches would be concerned.
5	*** And if you lived in a world where a previously benign bacteria could spontaneously morph into an ultra-deadly super-pathogen within ''every person it's ever infected simultaneously'', you'd be damn careful too.
6	** In light of the coronavirus outbreak of 2020, this particular point here is... interesting to look back on, to say the least.
7	* What is wrong with everyone in this game! ''cough '' I mean, if my disease was full of fevers and boils, I would understand people closing their borders. But I've made a virus with ''no symptoms'', an-- '''President Madagascar, a man on Website/TVTropes is coughing!''' -- Madagascar still clo'''SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING.'''
8	** Apparently Madagascar is the only country in the world that keeps tabs on these new diseases.
9	*** That, or [[GenreSavvy they've played Pandemic and know what your harmless bacteria will eventually become]].
10	** Well, if the entire world is wiped out except for Madagascar, it'd still be pretty horrific for them.
11	* The world of Pandemic has the best border patrols ever. An entire nation can be infected, and not so much as a single person, rat, mosquito, drop of water or errant sneeze is making it across the border.
12	** [[EpicFail The medical facilities, on the other hand...]]
13	* Madagascar is really paranoid, the game started my disease in Madagascar itself, needless to say it didn't move outside the country.
14	** Aw, man. I'm fairly new to the game, and I was thinking if I just kept restarting until it started in Madagascar it wouold make the problem go away. Rats.
15	* Why is every patient in the world instantly "upgraded" to the new symptoms and virulence? The mutation has to spread too.
16	** [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality Because the game is hard enough without having to essentially spread your disease more than once.]] If you want an in-universe explanation, maybe the disease already has those symptoms and whatnot in it's DNA, but they're in latency, and you upgrading them is actually just signaling that genetic code to activate and express that trait.
17	* Somehow, it's possible for your disease to have zero fatalities after 38 days of several billion people being afflicted with bleeding and insanity. You'd think that ''someone'' would be killed, but for some bizarre reason, the entire world population consists of able-bodied individuals with ready access to sanitary bandages and a straitjacket.
18	* How can a parasite be airborne?
19	** Mosquito larva, maybe?
20	*** I thought you said Mosquito Lava. I don't know if that's awesome or horrifying.
21	** [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail It could be carried]].
22	*** What, by a swallow?
23	** To answer the question: spores could be the airborne vector, with the parasites hatching inside the lungs.
24	* Countries close their borders and shut down public transit, yet the vaccine is distributed globally with 48 hours of completion.
25	** Presumably an exception is granted, and the scientists delivering the virus take appropriate precautions (hazmat suits, quarantines, etc.)
26	* How is it that Greenland's hospital is still operating, even though everyone in the country is infected with, oh, lets say, parasites that [[ZombieApocalypse rot your flesh and drive you mad?]]
27	** Programming error?
28	** The zombie doctors take the Hippocratic Oath very seriously.
29	* Countries with no fatalities sometimes start burning bodies, so just what bodies are they burning?
30	** The animals you've killed, possibly. Or maybe they're saying, "If it spreads here, we're going to burn the bodies. Just FYI."
31	** Bodies of people who died of other causes but happen to have the disease in their systems.
32	* You expect me to believe that the 17 surviving people in China, all suffering from depression, vomiting, and pulmonary edema, can exterminate every last rat in the country in less than 24 hours?
33	** VideoGameCrueltyPotential. (Also, its a basic tool to learn/teach how a disease spreads.
34	* When every water supply in the world is infected, where does the government ''get'' all that bottled water?
35	** Perhaps they boil a lot of water to then bottle it.
36	* I know the point of the game is to kill people with a disease, but am I really supposed to believe that nobody is dying from the natural disasters that occur in-game?
37	** I'm not sure what you mean. The game only tracks the people who have specifically died from the disease. Or do you mean a sudden population drop after a natural disaster?

Context Headscratchers / Pandemic