Slimelung

Slimelung is a disease-causing germ that infects Duplicants and spreads through contaminated materials and environments. It thrives on Slime and polluted gas, and it is most commonly encountered where Slime is being dug, handled, or processed. Once a Duplicant is infected, the disease weakens their breathing and can interfere with work and sleep, making it especially dangerous in low-oxygen areas.

An infected Duplicant loses air faster than they can passively regain it, so they will periodically wheeze even when they are not otherwise out of breath. This effect stacks with normal suffocation from low oxygen, which makes Slimelung particularly punishing in cramped, poorly ventilated bases or in digging operations where oxygen supply is already strained. In addition, infected Duplicants will sneeze occasionally, releasing 1000 germs each time. The sneeze output is not usually large enough to be a major contamination source, but it can interrupt work and sleep. If untreated, a Duplicant recovers in 8 cycles.

Slimelung does not need to be “waited out” in a practical sense, so treatment should generally begin as soon as possible. A treated Duplicant should rest in a well-vented environment, because the wheezing can interrupt treatment if the patient is kept in a poorly ventilated room. Breathing in more germs does not change the course of treatment, although it can quickly lead to reinfection after recovery.

Its growth and survival are strongly tied to its environment:

• Growth is increased by +15% / cycle while growing on Slime.
• Growth is increased by +4% / cycle when surrounded by Polluted Water.
• Growth is increased by +4% / cycle when surrounded by Polluted Oxygen.
• It multiplies in Slime.
• It also multiplies in Polluted Oxygen at +300% / cycle.
• It is inhibited in other gases.
• It is killed by Oxygen, solid tiles, and liquids.
• It is disinfected by Chlorine and Bleach Stone.

Slimelung’s general environmental ranges are broad, with a temperature range of 10 °C to 100 °C and a pressure range of 0 kg to 1000 kg. Even so, some conditions reduce its spread significantly:

• Dying on solid tiles other than Slime or Algae: -13% / cycle
• Dying in Oxygen: -29% / cycle
• Being surrounded by Oxygen: -13% / cycle
• Overpopulation: -13% / cycle
• At 100 °C: -29% / cycle

Its spread is also limited by germ concentration thresholds, including more than 4500 germs/kg on Slime and more than 500 germs/kg on other solid tiles.

A historical note indicates that an unknown version of the disease was much stronger.