# Dev Diary #4: Broadening of Pathology

From Frank_Stein:

"Thought about pathology

Something we seem to get stuck on is balancing "good" and "bad" pathogens. TBH, I think that's a niche genetics already fills. I think it would be worth reconsidering the entire concept and think about what role pathology could serve in relation to existing mechanics and departments, the way botany does with kitchen or chemistry.

Pathology could be more like a biological aspect of science. Maybe they could serve a **roll in medical production** in making medicine. Maybe they produce **advanced yeasts for the chef** for baking and alcohol brewing. Create **microbial energy cells** to add Engineering with Power Production. **Analyze forensic samples** to aid with Security investigations."

From Kotlol:

"I would love them to do a mirco level atopsy that gives hints of how the person died and maybe a hint to a player like:
"A scrap of yellow fabric was found" Thus implicating the killer wore yellow clothing (or engineer clothing) at the time of killing.

Maybe rework pathology into **Micro-biology**... thus you can check samples of diseases, grow stuff to help, forensics, but also checking DNA of several things.
We could also put in a **"xenobiology"** part to it in checking alien samples? Wich could unlock more mutations and such? Where do you find these? You order them or find them somehow.
Anyhow... I am overspeculating... but making it MICRO-BIOLOGY insted of pathology makes more sense the way Frank is suggesting it."

From Rilor:

"I do like the idea of pathology having **more ways to help everyone on the station** than just rushing a beneficial plague every round. Also this could open up more options for gimmicks for pathology than "make everyone Shakespeare" or "sell the vaccine for a harmless but annoying plague you unleash to become rich.""

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## Let's double-take on the key principles for the Pathology rework.
**1. Player interaction, first and foremost.**
Pathologists must not be cooped up in their workspace. There should be plenty of strong incentives for pathologists to work with others and to voluntarily help other crew.

**What can pathology provide?**
- Stackable healing and other **player-centered boosts** (the original/old implementation)
- **Yeasts or other microbial cocktails** to help the chef improve the **food quality/quantity** (imagine the chef hauling thousands of sourdough loaves to cargo)
- **Chemical-producing cultures** (I can use the Brewery symptom as a starting point here.) for the barman, scientists, and other medstaff
- Medbay's **source of income** (as suggested from the last playtest)
- **Investigative capabilities** (imagine being able to get prints from insul fibers, or continue the ideas of postmortum autopsy)
- **Power production** capabilities (Starting with the capacitor symptoms this sort of idea may be doable)

Overall, every single department would have some affiliation or gain from these suggested additions.

**What (if anything) would pathology need?**
Nothing. Nothing should be necessary. Rather, any resources that pathologists might want should be optional or easy to get.

**2. Avoid overreliance on pathologists to solve problems.**
Jobs should provide significant benefits to others, and do not force requirements or restrictions onto others.

**3. Maintain a general continuity between old and new.**

Pathology is likely to keep its namesake for the sake of continuity, even though it will adapt concepts more inline with microbiology or bioengineering. The old symptoms will mostly remain: however, there will be **hundreds** of new symptoms that will push out the narrow good/bad dichotomy from before. 70 to 90% of all symptoms could be unrelated to player health (think on the order of **200-300 total symptoms from about 120 right now just to cover the suggestions in Part 1**).

# My objective now is to simplify and modularize the pathology code such that these creative ideas can be easily introduced.

Pathology can be broken down into three fundamental components:
1. Microbody Types
2. Symptoms/Effects
3. Cures

Everything byond this is not necessary. The bulk of the power behind pathology is the **flexibility of symptoms/effects** and the **ability to create pathogens**. Therefore, pathology will be a job that involves creating **microbial solutions/boons** for the station, whatever that may entail.