PRIME/Radiation

This is spoiler for radiation in PRIME. It is up to date for version 2.1b.

Radiation

Radiation is stealthy danger of PRIME. While you usually know when you are being radiated you never know exact dose your body has absorbed.

Sources

Several things in game can radiate you. Every ten game turns your inventory and surroundings are checked. Radiation pooled from all the sources is decreased by radiological energy resistance if the player has any. Final result is added to taken rads variable.

Radioactive items

Each individual item at your feet at the moment of check counts as one point. Objects in your inventory count double.

Radioactive item types are:

Gamma ray gun, mutated bio armors (and derivatives), rad grenades - always.
Pair of X-Ray goggles - when buggy.
Canister of mutagen - when unoptimized and not made of lead.

Examples:

Carried 3 optimized rad grenades - 6 points per check.
Carried debugged gamma ray gun (3 charges) - 2 points per check.
Worn buggy pair of X-Ray goggles - 2 points per check.
5 debugged canisters of mutagen lying at feet - 5 points per check.
Carried optimized canister of mutagen - 0 points per check.
Carried buggy canister of mutagen (whose appearance is "lead canister") - 0 points per check.

Radioactive surroundings

Standing in square marked as radioactive adds several points.

If the square itself is radioactive, add 10 points. This can be because:
- The whole area is irradiated. True in all levels of Gamma Caves.
- Only the room is irradiated. These are uncommonly found in Space Base. On average 1 in 30 rooms is this.
- Single square is irradiated. You poured canister of mutagen over it or zapped gamma ray gun downwards.
If there is a radioactive vat standing in the square add 10 points.
Add one point for each rad trap adjacent. Current square is also checked.

Radioactive attacks

One may gain rads by standing in rad grenade blast, being zapped with gamma ray gun and suffering irradiating melee attacks.

Rad grenade adds 15-35 points regardless of distance from the center of explosion. Shields provide no protection.
Gamma ray gun adds 15-45 points per hit. Shield can absorb the concentrated ray negating the damage.
Activating a radiation trap adds 11-20 points.
Drinking a canister of mutagen adds 125-225 points ignoring resistance.
Getting "toxic taste" effect from vat adds 1-100 points ignoring resistance.
Drinking Nuka-Cola or Bouncy Bubbly Beverage adds 1-10 points ignoring resistance.

Avoidance

Best defense against radiation is not getting irradiated in the first place. Wear protective equipment, avoid carrying items that leak gamma particles. Kill enemies with gamma ray guns and rad grenades fast.

Geiger counter

One can find radioactive rooms and items using the Geiger counter. It is unidentified at first and appears as some kind of electronic gizmo. While it is active the counter will start clicking as soon as it detects hard radiation. Note that the clicking does not mean you are being radiated. Since the counter is an external tool it does not take into account your resistance.

The clicking sound can become faster or slower when amount of radiation present changes. This can be used to discern between amount of leaking sources present in surroundings.

If using far walk command you will be stopped in presence of rad traps because they radiate slightly to all neighboring squares. When this happens search to find the trap and avoid it.

When you want to sort out radioactive items without knowing their type this is too possible with the Geiger counter. When you drop offending item the clicking speed will become slower. Also, when you pick up such object the clicking becomes more rapid. You should be able to tell radioactive item types and in few cases get some information about bugginess.

Protection and remedies

Resistance to radiological energies can be obtained by wearing special equipment.

Armor pieces granting resistance:

Radiation suit - 10 points.
Brotherhood power armor - 20 points.
Brotherhood power helmet - 5 points.
Bio carapace - 5 points.

Wearing brotherhood power armor and brotherhood power helmet with radiation suit underneath confers 35 points of resistance. This is maximum achievable in game.

Natural recovery

Every 60 game turns you lose 5 rad points. If your rad intake is above 300 every 10 turns you will lose 1-5 rad points. Both effects are cumulative.

Radiation processor

Installed radiation processor implant removes ten rads every environment check provided that there was no radiation intake this turn. In result the device is very helpful in protecting against damage caused after the fact. You can survive exposure to considerable amounts of radiation with no or little long term damage to health. However, it is not enough to permit safe traversal of Gamma Caves or prolonged stays in irradiated rooms of Space Base.

The amount of rads reduced is not affected by its bugginess status at this version but this is likely to change in future.

Purification medical service

When a docbot injects you with bubbly serum you lose 50-200 points of rads. The message is you feel purified if all radiation was purged from your body and you feel less contaminated otherwise. It costs 200 buckazoids.

Rad-Away

Drinking the canister of Rad-Away removes 100-300 points. Yes, the developers know in Fallout it was a blood-pack like item. Technology has progressed in PRIME. We now have canisters. :-) What about the floppy disks? Oh, shut up please.

Messages are same as for the medical service above.

Radiation sickness

Every 60 game turns a check is made against current level of rad intake.

If the player character is between 75 and 150 rads inclusive but is not sick and is being radiated at the moment a symptomatic message will be printed. It can be one of these:

You have a slight headache.
You feel fatigued.
You feel somewhat sick.

If rad intake is greater than 150 radiation sickness strikes.

There is chance to resist sickness due to luck and constitution.

If rad counter divided by 12 is larger than sum of random number 1-20 and your constitution minus 10 the sickness advances. Otherwise:

If you were not sick, you are now in first stage. You have a headache is printed.
If you are sick either You feel weary or You feel quite sick message appears but your illness counter is not advanced. As long as you keep passing the check you stay at first stage and no ability damage is caused.

Sickness advancement

Every time you fail aforementioned check against amount of irradiation you suffer constitution damage. Your ability is decreased by:

1-2 points always.
1 additional point for each full 300 rads taken.
1 additional point for each 7 stages of sickness suffered.

If this reduces your constitution to zero or lower you are overcome by your ilness.

If you live, a check is made if stage should be advanced more rapidly. If your sickness stage is less than 7 minus current constitution it is set to 7 minus current constitution. To put it simpler person who has 4 constitution points after ability damage will get third stage effect or later.

Illness stages

Depending on your previous level when ability damage is dealt a message is printed:

0: You feel tired.
1: You feel feverish.
2: You feel nauseated.
3: You vomit!
4: You gums are bleeding!
5: You hair is falling out!
6: You skin is melting!
7 and more: Your body is wracked with convulsions. You get stunned for number of turns equal to value of stage counter.

After this message and possible stunning sickness counter is advanced.

Side effects

If you exceed 400 rads you become glowing. This has the effects of having a flashlight on. You stop glowing when your rads fall below 300.

Examples

How much rad resist does one need for doing different stuff?

Walking around Gamma Caves and radiated rooms: 10
Standing over a radioactive vat indefinitely: 10
Standing over a radioactive vat in radioactive square: 20
Stumbling into rad traps harmlessly: 20
Freely carrying N irradiated items: N*2
Surviving rad grenades with impunity: 35
Surviving gamma ray gun zap with impunity: 45
Being surrounded by rad traps or vat slimes indefinitely: 8 (1 point for every square)
Being surrounded by rad traps with vat slime over each of them: 16
As above, but also over a radioactive vat: 26
As above, but also in a radioactive room: 36