9 hours ago, Riamus said:Which is why I asked if you knew how much crafting is typical for players. I know some really want to craft but I really think many players don't care whether they craft or loot so long as they get what they need. If crafting a lot of stuff is being done by most people, then yes, you'll use more duct tape and need more water. If it's only done when necessary and people are more likely to loot for stuff, then they'd need less water. And if they don't ever craft beyond food and drink and perhaps certain things like ammo or building blocks or things you can't find or buy, then they need even less. As I said, I don't know what actually is typical for the average player. Where this falls greatly determines what amount of water is needed for a typical player. For early game, most duct tape costs are going to be either pipe weapons or armor, right? How many people craft those? Do more people craft those or not? I know that I've never had issues getting basic armor within the first 2-3 days and never craft that or clothing in any game I've played. Maybe I haven't gotten every piece in that time, but close enough. If you don't craft armor, that saves quite a lot of duct tape. Pipe weapons might be more likely to be crafted, though they aren't really that difficult to find usually. And even if you do craft one, that's a single cost unless you're upgrading it constantly by crafting every upgrade level.
I just don't see crafting being an issue for water scarcity in early game for most players. Some, yes. Most? Probably not. But again, I'm guessing and was hoping you might know. In mid game or later, crafting needs a crazy amount of duct tape now, so you it does affect your water needs a lot if you plan to craft much of anything.
Lets go away from the details and sum up generally what we know now (or in other words state the obvious): There are some players who have no problems at all with water in early game and there are some players who have, some even so much that they make an account here to protest, and some having just problems of deciding what to craft or make into drinks or postpone. In effect this is now a balancing issue.
Depending on where you loot and how much you loot you find some average of water jars per day (maybe a not so obvious point: the gas station POIs you so often get offered in the first days are often not a good place to find water). And depending on how much you craft and how much you expend stamina you have some average of water jars you need. And as we have seen both sides of the equation can be wildly different per player. Also those provide a lot of opportunities for adjustment here if TFP uses telemetry to find out what the average player does.