Radiation

Radiation refers to the effects of radioactive items and objects in the game, which cause damage to the pioneer unless a Hazmat Suit is worn. While Radiation is in effect, the screen will become slightly distorted, Geiger Counter noises will be heard and a radiation level bar will appear in the upper part of the screen.

Radioactive items and objects
Currently, there are twelve types of radioactive items in-game, with different amounts of radioactivity (internally referred to as ItemDecay): Due to items having different stack sizes, 1 stack of Encased Plutonium Cell is the most radioactive among them.

All of the items listed above glow in the dark.

Radiation levels
The formula for calculating the radiation level (intensity) is: $$\frac {ItemAmount\times ItemDecay} {4 \pi x ^ 2} e ^ {(-RadiationFallOffDistance \times x)}$$

Where:
 * $$ItemAmount = $$ Amount of items. So 2 stacks of Uranium counted as 200.
 * $$x = $$ Distance between the player and the item, in meters
 * $$RadiationFallOffDistance = $$ 0.0125
 * $$ItemDecay$$: Refer to the table above.

Radiation intensity for multiple radioactive sources, such as items in different containers, are summed scalar in 3D. After the summation, the intensity level is then capped between 0.2 (0.44% radiation damage) and 45 (100% radiation damage). An pioneer will not receive any damage below 0.2 intensity. Beyond 45, the radiation damage is capped, which at this intensity, kills the pioneer in 5 seconds or consumes the Iodine Infused Filter at a maximum rate of 1 per 12 seconds. In-between, the filter lasts longer as the radiation level reduces. The radiation bar in the game screen is capped at 26.7% radiation damage.

Items closer than 0.5 meters or in the inventory are counted as x = 0.5 meters

The above formula can be applied to the following situations:
 * Items on the ground
 * Items in vehicles, including trains, and even if the vehicle has fallen onto the bottom of the void
 * Items in Storage Containers, Industrial Storage Containers and Personal Storage Box including the one in The HUB
 * Items in Miners or other production buildings
 * Items on Conveyor Belts
 * Items in pioneer's Inventory/hand
 * Items carried by a Lizard Doggo
 * Items in Death Crate or Loot Box

Be careful when hand-mining Uranium ores, as Uranium in the inventory can kill the pioneer quickly, due to the short distance of x = 0.5 meter. Other creatures such as Stingers or Lizard Doggos do not take damage from Radiation.

A Uranium Deposit produces radiation of 0.44% starting at 85 meters and 50% at about 19 meters. There are no values that can be placed into the above formula to calculate this radiation, but an approximation would be ItemAmount 1, ItemDecay 167800, and RadiationFallOffDistance 0.0262.

Protection
In Tier 7, a Hazmat Suit can be unlocked via its respective milestone. Having the suit on won't stop the noises, but will protect the pioneer from Radiation damage. As the suit requires Alclad Aluminum Sheets to craft, it is required to complete the Bauxite Refinement milestone first.

Entering any vehicle also stops the pioneer from taking radiation damage.

Examples
To get a feeling about how far the radiation goes, here are some examples:

Tips

 * Beware when disposing of radioactive items as it can currently cause a glitch, in which the area acts as if a dropped piece is still there.
 * If keeping one or more Lizard Doggos, keep them in a containment pen, in case one brings you Uranium Waste with a conveyor system ready to handle the waste. Alternatively, kill the Lizard Doggo to delete the waste.
 * There is an online calculator to calculate radiation.
 * An alternative radiation calculator. This one allows you to upload a save game and displays the radiation map.

Current issue
There is a bug where after the pioneer mined some Uranium deposits (which is usually performed to remove their radiation), followed by deleting the Uranium in the inventory, the radiation effect persists and also continuously draining the Iodine Infused Filter. To reset the radiation, drop the Uranium (if any) from the inventory, run well away from it, save the game then reload.

History

 * Patch 0.4.0.11: Updated radiation levels to fit new item production rates.