by caf. » Fri Nov 04, 2016 4:27 pm
so, here comes caf with another outrageous and totally unsolicited suggestion for the sole purpose of making your life harder. because who doesn't love those?
kidding, i just pulled out my veterinary handbooks (also known as my children) and had an idea that might improve the realism of the sim (hopefully without making your life that much harder? everything is up to interpretation).
i know diseases and vaccinations and all didn't go over very well, but i've seen many a case of injury mentioned in the sim and have used a few genetic disorders in stories and such, and figured that perhaps a very simple injury feature could be implemented. in short, the 'random events' in foaling and competing would have real-world injuries attached. perhaps injuries could also take horses out of competition for a couple of weeks, though from a player's perspective i can see how that could get frustrating very quickly. if needed, i am more than willing to write up a full-on "RVEC veterinary handbook" and research the costs, likelihoods, predispositions, everything. seriously, i love writing medical papers, it's an embarrassingly fun pastime for me. i've made a simple list of possible ailments for your consideration (organized by type and severity in descending order bc it's 11 pm and i should be doing my homework):
competition injuries
- muscle strain
- hoof crack
- carpal canal syndrome
- popped splint bones
- tendon bow
- stress fracture
- ligament injury
foaling issues
- red bag foaling
- late pregnancy colic
- developmental oddities (crookedness)
- bone spavin (usually coupled with developmental oddities)
- dystocia (difficult foaling)
genetic issues
- roaring (as will be described in caf's take on the case of #84)
- narcolepsy (as described in the case of #75 The Flip Side, though his was caused by an injury)
- kissing spine
- HYPP (possibly not because it's sometimes lethal?)
- lethal white (again, maybe not?)
- HERDA (why are all the horse genetic diseases lethal this is awful)
(note - these genetic disorders could usher in the possibility of genetic testing? or if you don't want to go through the work of finding genes i can always assign random arbitrary percentages of chance to them aha)
(also you absolutely do not have to use all of these i'm being ridiculous)
either way, it's late and i'm tired and i'm not making any sense, but feel free to discuss any of this with me!
also, if you're looking for a really nice veterinary handbook, "The Horse Doctor Is In" by Brent Kelley is an absolutely fantastic one. it's not all-inclusive (if you're looking for every disease in the book, "Horse Owner's Veterinary Handbook" does a nice job. buy the latest edition), but it's actually crazy informative and a strangely good read. i don't think i've gone more than six months in the past few years without reading it through at least once. not to mention Dr. Kelley is incredibly entertaining; if i could move to Kentucky i'd be taking classes under him day and night.
enough blabbering, anyway. great job so far with the sim, Syd!
caf - they/them - bi
equestrian - vocalist - student
mostly i hang around here for
RVEC nowadays, though i
roleplay on occasion. chat
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math, science, or...anything!