Infection
General#
Infection is not the same thing as radiation. Radiation is a meter that everything fills. Infection is a condition you either have or do not, and having it means the meter now fills itself.
Catching It#
Every zombie melee hit rolls for infection. The odds depend entirely on your leather armor:
| Leather worn | Chance per hit |
|---|---|
| Full set (4 pieces) | None, the roll is skipped |
| 2 or 3 pieces | 1% |
| 1 piece or none | 2% |
The Hellhound is the exception and is far more dangerous: 15% against an unarmored target, 10% against light leather, and 5% even against a full set. It is the only class that can infect a survivor wearing complete leather.
The Gas Mask blocks the roll entirely, including from a Hellhound.
Note that iron and chainmail count for nothing here. A survivor in full chainmail is better protected from damage and completely exposed to infection.
Having It#
You are told in chat the moment it catches: "You have been bitten! Use a syringe to stop the infection!"
From then on:
- Your radiation climbs by 1 every second, with no input from anyone. From zero that is roughly a hundred seconds before you turn.
- Every twenty seconds you spasm for four seconds. Your view is wrenched around, you spray white particles from your mouth, and you slow to a stumble.
The spasms are the real problem. They are plainly visible to everybody nearby, so an infected player in a group is usually found out long before anyone spends 100 gold on a Scanner.
Curing It#
The Syringe is the answer. It cures infection outright at any stage.
Failing that, driving your radiation all the way to zero with Radiation Tablets and Bandages also clears it. That takes a lot of items and is a fallback rather than a plan.
Curing also clears a Scanner result, so a cured player is fully trusted again.
The Starting Infected#
The players chosen as the round's opening zombies are a special case. They cannot be cured at all: syringes and tablets are refused with a message saying the infection has already spread too far.
They also fill on a much faster timer than a bitten player, turning after about 60 seconds, or 30 if they crouch the whole way. See How to Play.
Being Found Out#
Once a group knows, the Scanner page covers what happens next: the protection that stops humans hurting each other is lifted for you, and you can be executed.
It is worth knowing that this is survivable socially. If you are scanned and immediately cure yourself, the flag clears and you carry on. The players who get executed are the ones who hide it until the spasms give them away.