Eating and drinking system - Please, just give it up.

[Ineedscoffee 464]

What about for those spawning in the mountain regions? No washing up there :p

[Death By Crowbar 1213]

Ham_Sandwich27 <- of course this post would come from an OP who's username was all about food!  :D

 

It's not that bad getting energized and hydrated, you need to focus on the buildings that have bigger payoffs for those things and don't waste time in buildings where there is often nothing at all. Also you must recognize when you're in a bad server - I once looted the entirety of Elektro and found nothing, 0, zilch, nadda, not a single drop of food or drink... in all of Elektro. That happened 2 weeks ago. I barely made it to Cherno and it was like the promised land, food everywhere. I ate until I almost puked and then got shot while dealing with a zombie, LOL. But that's the worst I've had it recently. It usually takes me *maybe* 20 minutes tops to get energized and hydrated, but I do always immediately figure out my location and pull up DayZDB and figure out where my closest point target location for looting is skipping anything that's a low chance at paying off from looting.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

Yes, you can "live" for about 3 weeks before you die. At that point, you will be almost a useless lump of flesh from degradation and malnutrition.  You will be alive, but you most certainly be not OK. Your muscles will not repair damage, wounds will take longer and longer to heal, your immune system will shit the bed, and your mental facilities will become slower and slower, as will your reaction times.

 

Seriously, did you not read my post? In an honest-to-goodness survival situation, you should be eating more than you usually would. Survival is very stressful on the body, and stress often can make your metabolism kick into overdrive.

 

However, starvation is really not the killer in a survival situation: dehydration is. 3 days without water, and you are dead. This is laying around all day, moving as little as possible. Go for a few hours without drinking anything,alongside strenuous activity and stress, and tell me how you feel. You are going to feel like complete and utter shit.

 

I hope dehydration and "clean water sources" becomes more of an issue in the future, because if you can't find water right now, just quit the goddamn game. Almost every settlement has a well (maybe more!), and even if you spawn in the middle of nowhere, you can still drink from the 10000s of streams and ponds around Chernarus. If you can't find a stream, head downhill, and check the sides of roads.

Actually your body is gonna start converting non essential tissues, such as arms and leg muscles into fuel.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Actually your body is gonna start converting non essential tissues, such as arms and leg muscles into fuel.

And? Still debilitating. You kinda need those.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

And? Still debilitating. You kinda need those.

I was just tossing a fact, not contradicting you.

[Whyherro123 2283]

I was just tossing a fact, not contradicting you.

True. However, once you get to the point where your body starts to autocannibalize, you are really fucked. Autocannibalism of muscle tissues only occurs after the body has pretty much expended all other viable fuel sources it has, and protein taken from muscle tissue will not recoup any losses due to starvation, just keep you "alive" (while damaging you even more)

[blazinone 72]

(0.49 Stable)

 

Test 1

 

Fresh spawn, outside Elektro. NO sprinting, only MINIMAL jogging.

• At 16 minutes: Hungry (1st stage), Thirsty (1st stage), Cold (1st stage)
• At 30 minutes: Starving (red), Thirsty (1st stage), Cold (1st stage)
• At 35 minutes I started eating. My screen was black and white by then.

I ate the following (in order):

• Fresh Orange
• Sardines (~75%)
• Tactical Bacon (~75%)
• (a few minutes passed)
• Bottle of Water (50%)
• Tactical Bacon (~85%)
• Beans (~85%)
• (a few minutes later)
• Tactical Bacon (~85%)
• Sardines (~85%)
• Spaghetti  (~85%)
• Green Pepper

Status was still Hungry (1st stage).

 

Results:

I ate 2 days worth of food in less than an hour (no more than 55 minutes) but was still Hungry and went unconsious from blood loss after bleeding for only a short while.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Test 2

 

Fresh spawn (same server) outside Berezino. Minimal sprinting, some jogging.

 

Within minutes I ate:

• Orange
• Box of Crunchin Crisps

I was 1st stage Energized.

 

Results:

I ate only a small amount (of different food) and was Energized (1st stage, dark green) in no time.

 

------------------------------------------------

 

Both situations were ideal - daytime, low pop servers with no rain.

 

Conslusion:

Not a flippin' clue!

Edited October 21, 2014 by BlazinOne

[alsmir 255]

Spawning sucks and that's about it. I'm currently sitting on experimental. Out of 4 spawns I starved once. I spawned in Berezino and it was just empty.

Once I bled to death because my rags disappeared, once I got whacked with sledgehammer.

Currently It's my 4th life in exp. I was struggling at first but when I moved away from spawn points and easily got loaded with food and drinks. I got back to sprinting everywhere, it drains you calories faster but at healthy status I hardly care. I've got 2 water bottles and a bunch of steaks. Canned food is everywhere and I don't even bother with it. Cows are sitting on the fields just asking to be slaughtered.

 

tl;dr

Eating and drinking system is fine, it's the item spawning and persistence that are fcked up.

[archamedes 238]

Yeah Experimental is much more of a challenge, You REALLY need to work for your food because there are only a handful of servers that are usually maxed out and they dont seem to reset for hours, so going to the usual places for food is a bad idea. You literally have to search every house you find even the shit ones because you have no other choice. It forces you to be a proper scavenger rather than just checking the medical centre, the piano house and the police station before skipping to the next town.

 

Also on exp it takes over 15 minutes to cook food from raw, bit more of a jump from the 3 mins on stable

[umm_me 77]

I like the "start" of the game, its the only part of the game where surviving is even an issue. You are quickly approaching hunger and thirst, you are likely to start getting cold, things are much worse if its raining... Zombies are actually an issue, you cant just 1 or 2 shot them, if you punch them out or even use a subpar melee weapon, you might get injured or a player might spot you... if you out run and or trap a zombie... you might pass by chances to find food and warmth or again a player might spot you. These few minutes of game play are great... hiding and looting to simply not die. Once you found a rain coat, an axe, and some bare minimum food. Survival is pretty much over... you should never risk being cold/wet, hungry/thristy, and the zombies are now easily dispatched... You still have to avoid player detection as youd be at a disadvantage trying to axe them a question while they have an m4 pointed at your face. 

 

Now you will go find a gun and the game gets pretty boring. You are as dangerous to other players as they are to you and survival is a non issue. Since most people are bored now too theres pretty much only PvP left. You of course can try to be social, which i think takes the 10 seconds of shooting a person, and stretches the rush over some time... not knowing if you really trust this person or if he has friends, not knowing if he might draw his gun and if you will react fast enough... those minutes of tension are worth more then the seconds of a kill to me. You of course give up a huge advantage in stealth by being social. Blah blah... long story short is... once fully geared we have little to do, hopefully survival becomes so hard that its always near the top of your "troubles" list, so much so that more people might need to ask other strangers for help.

 

 

 

 

Also a quick thing about the recurring "3 weeks" to die of starvation conversation... I personally dont imagine my new spawn character having stood up from his all you can eat buffet, tipping the waitress, picking up his flash light and walking outside onto a beach where the apocalypse apparently just started. I think my characters been struggling to survive for awhile, and I picked up his story here on the beach... imagine his last meal was a 1/2 eat apple last week. or 2 weeks ago or whatever you need to imagine to put him in his dieing situation.

[General Zod 1118]

tl;dr

Eating and drinking system is fine, it's the item spawning and persistence that are fcked up.

Hardly, the amount of food we need to consume to get energized is insane. It's like we are this 250 kg fat guy with a tape worm. 

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

Also a quick thing about the recurring "3 weeks" to die of starvation conversation... I personally dont imagine my new spawn character having stood up from his all you can eat buffet, tipping the waitress, picking up his flash light and walking outside onto a beach where the apocalypse apparently just started. I think my characters been struggling to survive for awhile, and I picked up his story here on the beach... imagine his last meal was a 1/2 eat apple last week. or 2 weeks ago or whatever you need to imagine to put him in his dieing situation.

 

Also, time perspective is something that simply has to be warped in game for gameplay reasons. I doubt they are going to let you wait 5 or 6 actual months until your planted tomato seeds turns into fresh red tomatoes on your plants, when this feature is fully implemented. Same goes for hunger and thirst, this has to be a factor in each game session, even if that session just lasts a couple of hours, because it is an essential part of the survival game experience.

[BadAsh (DayZ) 1513]

Hardly, the amount of food we need to consume to get energized is insane. It's like we are this 250 kg fat guy with a tape worm. 

 

I agree. But perhaps it is currently artificially high because food spawns are currently artifically high. Anyway, I doubt we are going to get close to anything resembling actual balancing of this system until the beta.

[umm_me 77]

Also, time perspective is something that simply has to be warped in game for gameplay reasons. I doubt they are going to let you wait 5 or 6 actual months until your planted tomato seeds turns into fresh red tomatoes on your plants, when this feature is fully implemented. Same goes for hunger and thirst, this has to be a factor in each game session, even if that session just lasts a couple of hours, because it is an essential part of the survival game experience.

 

Completely agreed... Right now I can probably start 2 new characters, gear them both, and go get them both recklessly killed inbetween my IRL meals.

In that few hours of IRL time, 2 lifetimes have passed in game (or maybe a tenth of a life time for those careful players), but during that game time gathering food should still be important in a survival based game.

[General Zod 1118]

Completely agreed... Right now I can probably start 2 new characters, gear them both, and go get them both recklessly killed inbetween my IRL meals.

In that few hours of IRL time, 2 lifetimes have passed in game (or maybe a tenth of a life time for those careful players), but during that game time gathering food should still be important in a survival based game.

Yes but they can't keep the current hunger system and significantly lower food loot. 

It's either hyper hunger and food that is not rare. 

Or 

More toned down hunger and rare food. 

 

Keep in mind that people will quickly quit the game if 90% of the time is spent on searching for food and water. Which with added stamina system that will reduce running distance will make this game simply boring. Because repetitive running for hours between the towns for food will get boring with time. 

There needs to be time to be a bandit, or a hero or a trader, those are the things that will keep this game populated. 

Edited October 21, 2014 by General Zod

[umm_me 77]

I think people should be a bandit, hero, or trader WHILE surviving... and people should look at time they spend as trying to complete all tasks and role playing. 

 

Just because your highest priority right now is hunger, doesnt mean you are only looking for food. You wont pass up that shotgun and med kit on your quest for peaches. You can still interact with that player you walked past, either a bullet in his head in hopes he has food in his backpack, or a simple plea for help or trade... or avoid him altogether because you fear you dont have the time if he has nothing to offer.

 

Right now people do not hunt, fish, or gather... they only look in cities for food. Granted systems need to change, but a deer should be a huge win in the race for food... much better then a can of beans. If that system is reinforced, or even used in its less the perfect state, found food in cities could easily be reduced IMO.

[General Zod 1118]

I think people should be a bandit, hero, or trader WHILE surviving... and people should look at time they spend as trying to complete all tasks and role playing. 

 

Just because your highest priority right now is hunger, doesnt mean you are only looking for food. You wont pass up that shotgun and med kit on your quest for peaches. You can still interact with that player you walked past, either a bullet in his head in hopes he has food in his backpack, or a simple plea for help or trade... or avoid him altogether because you fear you dont have the time if he has nothing to offer.

 

Right now people do not hunt, fish, or gather... they only look in cities for food. Granted systems need to change, but a deer should be a huge win in the race for food... much better then a can of beans. If that system is reinforced, or even used in its less the perfect state, found food in cities could easily be reduced IMO.

Yes of course, but they need to be careful not to over do the hunger system, if food is to be scarce we cannot have the same calorie requirements that we have now. Most people will be full after eating two cans of spaghetti. Because needing 5+ cans of food to get energized will not go well with rare food. 

[Whyherro123 2283]

Yes of course, but they need to be careful not to over do the hunger system, if food is to be scarce we cannot have the same calorie requirements that we have now. Most people will be full after eating two cans of spaghetti. Because needing 5+ cans of food to get energized will not go well with rare food. 

I am all for making "canned food" (rice, beans, spaghetti, etc) really SUPER SCARE, if they make other sources of food more prevalent to match. How many homes in Chernarus have gardens? If you could pick fruits and vegetables from them, you wouldn't need the canned food from cities. If you could find plants in the wild, you wouldn't need to risk urban exposure. If you could trap small animals, like rabbits, squirrels, and birds, etc etc etc you would be set for a while. A deer or a cow should be a HUMONGOUS kill (as they are in real life), and you probably won't be able to eat it all on your own. You could smoke the meat to save it for later, trade it with others, etc.

[General Zod 1118]

I am all for making "canned food" (rice, beans, spaghetti, etc) really SUPER SCARE, if they make other sources of food more prevalent to match. How many homes in Chernarus have gardens? If you could pick fruits and vegetables from them, you wouldn't need the canned food from cities. If you could find plants in the wild, you wouldn't need to risk urban exposure. If you could trap small animals, like rabbits, squirrels, and birds, etc etc etc you would be set for a while. A deer or a cow should be a HUMONGOUS kill (as they are in real life), and you probably won't be able to eat it all on your own. You could smoke the meat to save it for later, trade it with others, etc.

I am for making hunting more important and more difficult. But as for food from a garden, I don't think you can get very far on cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini which will grow in a garden, sure they are better than nothing, but they are not high calorie. Potatoes will do nicely.  

[Whyherro123 2283]

I am for making hunting more important and more difficult. But as for food from a garden, I don't think you can get very far on cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini which will grow in a garden, sure they are better than nothing, but they are not high calorie. Potatoes will do nicely.  

Potatoes, corn, pumpkins, beans, peas. People live off of just those nowadays. Couple those with some animal protein in the form of pigeons (super easy to find and kill) or rabbits, and you will be just as good afterwards as you would eating those two cans of beans.

[NikoGT 21]

Yea I couldn't disagree with this post any further. If you don't think a post apocalyptic world is all about finding the food and drink you need to survive, then YOU are playing the wrong game, and making a suggestion that does not fit this game.  

 

In fact, I would like it if the system were made to be more difficult, as I find it too easy to survive 90% of the time after spawning in. Players are able to eat 6-7 cans of food plus drinks at once, something that should not be possible. The amount of food I need to eat to get healthy is correct, but how much I can eat at once is not. Being able to eat less at once would mean a player would have to maintain food and continue eating more than just the very first time they found food.  

 

Also, how are you not able to find food. Do you go anywhere that isn't the coast roads? There is so much loot on EXP its maddening lol. 

  

My response to this post is "Suggestion posts that just want to make the game easier - Please, just give up".

[General Zod 1118]

Potatoes, corn, pumpkins, beans, peas. People live off of just those nowadays. Couple those with some animal protein in the form of pigeons (super easy to find and kill) or rabbits, and you will be just as good afterwards as you would eating those two cans of beans.

Pigeons are only easy to catch if they are domesticated or in big towns where they get used to humans. Large corn takes ages to cook and you don't want to eat a raw one. And eating raw potatoes is not the best idea either, they might give your stomach some problems, especially in higher quantities. 

[Whyherro123 2283]

Pigeons are only easy to catch if they are domesticated or in big towns where they get used to humans. Large corn takes ages to cook and you don't want to eat a raw one. And eating raw potatoes is not the best idea either, they might give your stomach some problems, especially in higher quantities. 

well, with pigeons, I was referring to cities. In my home city, I can walk right up to one. With a rock or a club in hand, I would have a meal.

 

As for corn or potatoes, you boil them? That is how they are cooked, pretty much, and have been for thousands of years. Plus, you get boiled water for drinking.

 

I don't really see the issue. Survival take work? OH NO

[Caboose187 (DayZ) 3036]

I don't really see the issue. Survival take work? OH NO

That's the issues.  Survival takes work, followed by, "DayZ is not suppose to be a second job!!"  These forums will constantly get flooded with complaints about the difficulty until either the developers fold or they just give those people the finger, which is what I'm hoping for.

[General Zod 1118]

well, with pigeons, I was referring to cities. In my home city, I can walk right up to one. With a rock or a club in hand, I would have a meal.

 

As for corn or potatoes, you boil them? That is how they are cooked, pretty much, and have been for thousands of years. Plus, you get boiled water for drinking.

 

I don't really see the issue. Survival take work? OH NO

There is a difference between survival and needing 2000 calories in one meal to stop being hungry. 

 

That's the issues.  Survival takes work, followed by, "DayZ is not suppose to be a second job!!"  

Is that surprising ? That people have jobs, schools and lives and cannot spend insane amount of hours in game to cook food, patch clothes and pretty much have an entire live in game ?