Medical Guide

Vaccines

Vaccines provide protection against dangerous diseases before you get infected. Administer them in advance to build immunity. You'll need a syringe for ampoule vaccines. Plan ahead — if you're already sick, you need treatment, not a vaccine.

Disinfection

Before performing any medical procedure, disinfect your hands and your tools. After using a syringe, it becomes contaminated — disinfect it with alcohol or boil it in a pot of water over a fire. Using dirty equipment dramatically increases your risk of sepsis.

Cold & Pneumonia

Spending too long in the cold without adequate clothing will give you a cold. Left untreated, a mild cold progresses into pneumonia, which causes steady health loss. A stage 1 cold can sometimes be cured just by warming up, but anything beyond that needs antibiotics. Use medicine at or above the disease's current level.

Food Poisoning

Eating spoiled food, raw meat, rotten fruit, poisonous mushrooms, or drinking dirty water will poison you. Symptoms include nausea and vomiting. If left untreated, it worsens and causes dehydration and health loss. Drink plenty of water alongside your medication.

Chemical Poisoning

Chemical poisoning comes from inhaling toxic gases. It starts with coughing, then nausea and vomiting, and in later stages causes severe health loss that can kill you. You need an antidote or specific anti-chemical medications.

Zombie Virus

The zombie virus spreads through airborne droplets and bodily fluids. Fighting zombies up close carries a small chance of infection, but if a zombie wounds you, the risk jumps significantly. Wearing a face mask and body armor reduces your chances. The virus has a long incubation period (over an hour real-time), giving you time to find an antidote. In the terminal stage, your health drops rapidly.

Sepsis

Sepsis happens when an infection enters an open wound — from zombie scratches, knife wounds, or gunshots. The risk increases massively if you handle wounds with dirty hands. Left untreated, sepsis causes your health to slowly deteriorate. It requires level 3 antibiotics only.

Rabies

Rabies is transmitted through bites from infected animals, especially wolves. It progresses gradually with no immediate symptoms. Stage 1: mild temperature fluctuations and weakness. Stage 2: severe nausea and vomiting — you can't eat or drink. Stage 3: rapid health loss, exhaustion, and death. Early treatment or pre-infection vaccination can stop progression.

Hematomas

Getting hit by zombies or blunt weapons causes hematomas (bruises). Too many hematomas causes your health to decline. They heal naturally over time, but ointments speed up the process. The good news: ointments have zero overdose.

Wounds & Surgery

Melee attacks cause stab wounds. Firearms cause bullet wounds. Both cause severe bleeding and require immediate bandaging — hemostatic bandages work better than regular ones. After bandaging, the wound may still bleed slightly until the foreign object is surgically removed. Severe hits can damage internal organs, which are harder to treat. A good bulletproof vest blocks bullets but you'll still get bruised from the impact.

Concussion

A concussion results from a strong blow to the head, a nearby explosion, or a low-caliber bullet hitting your ballistic helmet. Symptoms include headache, dizziness, unstable coordination, and blurred vision. It gradually subsides on its own, but medication speeds recovery.

Bleeding & Hemostasis

Hemostasis is your body's ability to stop bleeding. These medications slow blood loss, buying you time to treat the underlying wound. Use them alongside bandages — they don't replace bandaging, they complement it.

Blood Regeneration

After bleeding stops, you need to regenerate lost blood. These medications boost your body's natural blood production, helping you recover faster from any wounds that caused blood loss.

Pain

Pain comes from various injuries and its intensity depends on severity. It subsides on its own over time, but painkillers speed it up. Use painkillers at or above the pain's level. Multiple painkillers stack overdose — don't pop them like candy.

Overdose

Every medication adds to your overdose meter. It gradually decreases as your body processes the toxins. Overdose progresses through three stages:

Sleep & Fatigue

Your character needs sleep, just like food and water. When your sleep indicator turns yellow, you'll start yawning and your vision worsens. At red level, you can lose consciousness from exhaustion. Sleep near warmth — fireplaces, tents, houses, or in a sleeping bag. You cannot sleep if you're freezing, starving, or suffering from stage 2+ illness. During sleep, you rapidly restore health and blood, and may recover from mild (stage 1) illnesses.

Mental Health

Your character's mental health degrades under extreme stress — zombie attacks, prolonged exposure to psionic zones, or eating human meat. Poor mental health causes panic, hallucinations, and disorientation. At zero mental health, your character may take uncontrollable actions that lead to death. Use antidepressants to stabilize.

Psionic Zones

Psionic zones are dangerous areas with psychoactive effects that attack your mental health. The closer you are to the center, the stronger the effect. Your character will experience panic, hallucinations, and loss of control. At zero mental state, your character may kill themselves.