The Food System is hot garbage!

[gecko2015]

Is there an overhaul of the food system planned? It's current state is an absolute mess; with what seems to be no forethought put into mid-to-high quality food recipes.

 

In it's current state, your character gets hungry when approx. half of your max hunger level is depleted (i.e. if your max stamina/food is 174, you'll obtain the hunger status around 86-87). This then results in a rather substantial stamina penalty on your character.

 

However, the majority of the higher quality foods are able to cure your hunger above your character's immediate hunger level - giving you two options:

 

1. Continue to be hungry and suffer the stamina penalty until your hunger level drops to the dish's level it will restore or;

2. Eat lower-quality food so you don't waste your good quality food.

 

Which this then puts you into a loop, because you'll eventually become hungry again and you'll be right back to square one of the above choices. Rinse and repeat day in and day out until you start wondering...what's even the point of going through all the trouble of making or carrying the higher quality food?

 

I'm aware that they give additional "buffs", but these buffs are minuscule compared to the investment put in to make them. Take Spaghetti for example, it takes:

 

1 Large Beef Ration

1 Can of Pasta

1 Mushroom

2 Animal Fat

1 Boiled Water

and the necessary skill/schematic

 

It can cure 122 hunger, heal 61, and provide a +40 stamina bonus. I know the recipe requirements aren't extremely rare, but they also aren't something you can easily keep crafting; thus it's valuable. Yet, the 'buffs' it provides are not even worth the effort unless you're in a very specific, planned, or well-timed event. Even if you don't agree with this, you can't argue the buffs really are that impressive. "A +40 stamina buff? I better wait to get beyond hungry during a big fight!". "It'll heal me 61? I better save this for when I'm hurt and hope I'm hungry at the same time!". This isn't how the food system should work. 

 

I personally think they should just ditch the food system hi-jacking the stats of the stamina and just have it's own dedicated numerical value. That or lower the hunger stamina penalty so that all recipes can resolve your character's hunger without wasting a higher-quality dish.

 

Even further, I personally would like to see food become significantly more important than how it's implemented now - it's an apocalyptic survival game after all. Small fruits/plants should be common, canned food should be rare, and actual dishes should be uber-rare requiring the player to acquire the ingredients cook them.

 

The first should resolve hunger for a few hours up to a day, the next up to a day, and latter for 2 or 3 days with accompanied buffs. I believe this is sort of how the intended it to be, but with the current loot system it doesn't work this way at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by gecko2015 (see edit history)

[Sjustus548]

I had to stop looking at food for anything else besides it's Food stat.  I was looking at the health too much and not eating my good food even though I needed to eat for fear of wasting the health it gave.  I just see the everything else besides the Food stat as a bonus that isn't worth looking at anymore.  I believe they are planning some kind of overhaul to the hunger/thirst system, at least that's what I remember hearing.  My main issue is just how much food we are required to eat in a given day.  Seems like a bit much in my opinion but we'll have to see what they decide to do.

 

[gecko2015]

7 minutes ago, Sjustus548 said:

My main issue is just how much food we are required to eat in a given day. 

 

 

Right. That's my main issues with the higher-quality dishes.  So what the spaghetti replenishes 122 hunger? My character will need to eat again within 30 mins anyways. It make the higher-quality dishes not even worth while to invest in.

 

I know there's a skill tree to lower the hunger gains of your character, but when compared to all the other more important skill trees, it's a waste of points to spec into.

[WilliamHeadings]

It's just overall too hard to make food and stay full. I don't understand how grilled meat only gives you 10 hunger.

[The-Walking-Dad]

I dunno, spaghetti and meatballs wouldn't fill me for 2-3 days. 

[Darklegend222]

5 hours ago, gecko2015 said:

 

Right. That's my main issues with the higher-quality dishes.  So what the spaghetti replenishes 122 hunger? My character will need to eat again within 30 mins anyways. It make the higher-quality dishes not even worth while to invest in.

 

I know there's a skill tree to lower the hunger gains of your character, but when compared to all the other more important skill trees, it's a waste of points to spec into.

I don't know about you, I wouldn't be able to eat a plate of spaghetti and be able to stay full all day. I'd have to eat another bowl 5-6 hours later. Of course, 30 minutes as you say is literally half of an entire day (12hours) in-game.

 

If it's that detrimental to you, I'd suggest drinking only red tea (gives 15% food loss) same with pure mineral water. I've learned to love red tea, and if that isn't enough.. use Iron Gut perk. Then you'll lose even less food and water.

 

I believe they overhauled it to be double the food loss because with all those buffs, the only time to eat in A19 was if you lost health. Hunger was in no way an issue.

[Boidster]

11 hours ago, gecko2015 said:

I know there's a skill tree to lower the hunger gains of your character, but when compared to all the other more important skill trees, it's a waste of points to spec into.

 

I'm not arguing that food doesn't need a balancing pass by the devs, but this idea of "I know there's X in the game which solves my problem, but it's worthless" has come up a couple of times recently (not from you gecko). At the same time, we get posts (also not from you gecko) about "don't force me to play a certain way!"

 

TFP has given you a mechanism to improve the efficiency of food consumption right there in the game. You have chosen (with good reason I'm sure!) to ignore it because to you it is a waste of points. Okay, but there are consequences to that choice.

[BFT2020]

I always strive to get the higher tier food recipes unlocked so I can start making them.  Eventually, I want to get away from grilled meat / bacon and eggs as it is nice to eat one thing and have it bring my food levels back closer to max rather than having to eat an entire stack of grilled meats.

 

I typically make all the different foods available as sometimes I need a medium boost to my food level or need a much larger burst.

 

Also, I never thought about "wasting" any by eating food that has more counts than needed (say I need 98 and spaghetti gives me 120+).  The same thing could be said about First Aid kits at the beginning of your game.  Sure you didn't benefit from the 130+ HP heal from them; but when it is the only thing you have left and you are very low on HP, I would rather "waste" the excess HP regeneration rather than dying but saving a first aid kit.

 

In an 1 hour game, 30 minutes is the equivalent of 12 hours.  Eating every 12 hours doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

[Whorhay]

Is the extra food and water wasted these days? I know in previous alphas we could consume an extra 50 or so and it'd just wait and be applied as your hunger continued to deplete. I guess if it is wasted I haven't noticed it being a problem yet despite playing almost everyday since A20 dropped.

[theFlu]

2 minutes ago, Whorhay said:

Is the extra food and water wasted these days?

The drink buff counts down reeal slow for the last 20 "seconds", giving a couple minutes of extra duration and keeping you at full drink. I think the eating buff does the same. For the water you also get the stamina regen buff for the extended duration, so overdrinking plain water for day-to-day sprinting or combat is a decent idea.

[PinkLed5]

20 hours ago, Boidster said:

 

I'm not arguing that food doesn't need a balancing pass by the devs, but this idea of "I know there's X in the game which solves my problem, but it's worthless" has come up a couple of times recently (not from you gecko). At the same time, we get posts (also not from you gecko) about "don't force me to play a certain way!"

 

TFP has given you a mechanism to improve the efficiency of food consumption right there in the game. You have chosen (with good reason I'm sure!) to ignore it because to you it is a waste of points. Okay, but there are consequences to that choice.

Yeah, I usually don't spend character points on quality of life stuff, if I can achieve the same result by another, albeit more annoying, way.  For example, I never put points into iron stomach, or whatever the skill is, because I can just make more food to accomplish the same result.  I'd rather spend my points on things I can't do otherwise.  It is annoying how much we have to eat everyday, but it's also kind of nice getting to use all that food we make.  :shrug: