Food spawn rates too high as of recent?

[sgtflex 13]

I say this because I remember a few updates ago food became rather scarce, harder to come by, and actually proved a challenge. I know a lot of people had noticed this too, and actually liked it. I can't find said thread on it, but I know not everyone may agree.

 

However, that being said, as of recent, food seems to spawn rather plentiful, especially for an apocalypse. I can go through a single house and come out with 5 cans of food. Note this is a regular house and only one, which means after a normal loot run through a town, I usually come out with a backpack full of food, able to sustain me for hours on end.

 

We have all these shiny new farming methods, fishing methods, hunting methods etc, but no reason to use them as of right now. I kinda want food to go back to the way they were, and become more scarce.

 

Besides, it usually opens up for something else to spawn there besides food since it seems to be all over the place.

 

Anyone here agree?

Edited January 14, 2015 by SgtFlex

[Whyherro123 2283]

Yep, way too much processed food.

 

However, farming should take way longer, and hunting should be way harder. Both as a nod to realism, and to promote critical thinking and planning skills.

 

If growing plants take only a few minutes (which is currently what happens), then you never have to worry about food again, as you can gather seeds from grown plants. And, if animals are stupid enough to allow you to literally walk within 10 feet of them (again, what happens currently), then hunting becomes trivial.

 

I've wanted agriculture to take about a real-time week, as this is fast enough where you can see the growth and experience the return. but long enough where you would start to worry about your next meal during the waiting, and worry about if you have enough to both feed yourself and have enough seed for the next planting. And, you couldn't just switch to another server, or just not play, for that week, farm plots would, under my system, require daily maintenance (weeding, watering, etc) to ensure growth, and to prevent animals from eating the crops. Agriculture would be best suited to larger groups, as the amount of food a group requires increases linearly, while the amount of work said group can accomplish increases exponentially.

 

Hunting, on the other hand, should be difficult. You shouldn't be able to say, " Gee, I'm hungry!", pull out a rifle, and take down that stupid deer 15 feet away. A hunt should be something that takes in-game days of stalking, or in-game days of waiting in ambush, with all that implies (need food, water, warmth, etc). Miss that one shot you get, and you might just be fucked. However, on the other hand, taking down an animal should give you a LOT of resources, and not just a realistic supply of meat. Organ meats are tasty and excellent sources of nutrients, intestines can be made into waterproof containers, sinew can be used as binding materials, fur can be used to keep warm (as well as trade goods), skins (and by proxy, brains and brain-tanned leather) can be made into tough clothing, containers, armor, etc, as well as the sheer amount of food in the form of meat even an average-sized deer offers. However, said meat (and intestines, skins and leather, furs, etc) all need to be preserved so they don't rot. Right now, you magically make leather from the skin of an animal in order to make a pack. Foolishness. You should be able to make meat into jerky so it lasts longer, and smoke hides so they become semi-waterproof.

 

You can even do both at the same time, with a little work!

 

Finally, there is foraging. Now, we already have the basic aspects of foraging, with berries and apples. However, foraging is a very important Wilderness Survival skill, especially with regards to food and medicine. Day Z takes place in Autumn (based on environmental conditions), so logically, there would be a whole PLETHORA of nuts, tubers, berries, mosses, lichens, etc available. You can eat some, use some as medicinal items, use others as firestarters, others make effective shelter materials, however, you actually need to know what the plant is to use it! Foraging for numerous different materials should be included in Day Z, but it should require some knowledge, maybe from a plant/tree guide. (not just "find plant. In description: GOOD FOR EATING". It should be like "find plant. In description: plant is made up of a cluster of green , spearhead-shaped leaves, with a long solid stalk with bluish flowers growing off it. There is a thick, starchy root cluster". You would need a plant guide to identify this as the dock plant, a common yard weed. Or, you just eat it, and hope for the best)

Edited January 14, 2015 by Whyherro123

[PhillyT 554]

Food isn't an issue currently, neither packaged or found.  You can easily kill enough animals to feed yourself.  I grab canned food for the very short term, get a gun, set up and kill a couple animals, and from then on, food won't ever be an issue.

[IReadTheAgreement 313]

Loots spawns aren't finished.  Just like the game.  I'm sure at release food spawns will be moderate if not low.

[Conrad_The_Comrade 577]

Food isn't an issue currently, neither packaged or found.  You can easily kill enough animals to feed yourself.  I grab canned food for the very short term, get a gun, set up and kill a couple animals, and from then on, food won't ever be an issue.

Even if that's how you play, not a lot do. So again, yeah food is in abundance as of now, but this isn't even near the final product, this is all going to be changed later down the road when all the content is in and whatnot

[leeish 3]

I'd one up this. I find myself with too much food most of the time, but maybe that's because of the weekly resets or whatever. (I don't fully understand what causes a respawn of items).

 

I think farming should take at least several hours, if not a full 24. I don't think it needs to be as tedious as needing to be weeded, but simply requiring watering every hour or so would make things very interesting. It would force people to farm near water or wells thus increasing the chances of run-ins with other people. If not watered enough, the output could be diminished or the plants would die if neglected.

 

Animals I'm sort of split. I rarely see any, but I agree when I do it's far to easy to get close. That being said, I do find it too easy to kill them. I axed a hog. It took 2 hits too. Granted it ran after the first one, but a wild boar would never allow me to get close enough to ax it.

 

I understand it's all alpha so it's not a complaint, just hoping the devs have it on the road map. I love the idea of creating your own "settlement" with farming plants and animals in pens and such. Maybe this game will never be designed to allow players to become established, but the outcome would be so amazing. Having groups of people attack other established settlements. However until persistence is figured out and some of the mechanics with farming and such it's not the case. This game has such amazing potential, however I fear its going to fall into a trap of trying to be too much. Is it a survival zombie game or a outdoor survival game, or a build you own town game?

[LoveAffair 329]

Yea , I think you should almost be forced to use snare or fish or hunt. Way to much canned food all over, Even the fresh stuff , i find like two Zuccini's and an orange every other house. I mostly hunt and fish my food , I like the fun of cooking it all up , or when i grow food and stand on the coast handing out pumpkins to unruly gangs.

Edited January 14, 2015 by LoveAffair

[sgtflex 13]

I certainly know it's alpha and im not complaining at all.

 

It's just my feedback on the spawnrate and hope it changes, as well as Survival for food/water and other things overall.

[PhillyT 554]

Even if that's how you play, not a lot do. So again, yeah food is in abundance as of now, but this isn't even near the final product, this is all going to be changed later down the road when all the content is in and whatnot

I'm not even saying anyone should. I'm saying that's an additional easy option.

[Jex 1104]

Yep, way too much processed food.

 

However, farming should take way longer, and hunting should be way harder. Both as a nod to realism, and to promote critical thinking and planning skills.

 

If growing plants take only a few minutes (which is currently what happens), then you never have to worry about food again, as you can gather seeds from grown plants. And, if animals are stupid enough to allow you to literally walk within 10 feet of them (again, what happens currently), then hunting becomes trivial.

 

I've wanted agriculture to take about a real-time week, as this is fast enough where you can see the growth and experience the return. but long enough where you would start to worry about your next meal during the waiting, and worry about if you have enough to both feed yourself and have enough seed for the next planting. And, you couldn't just switch to another server, or just not play, for that week, farm plots would, under my system, require daily maintenance (weeding, watering, etc) to ensure growth, and to prevent animals from eating the crops. Agriculture would be best suited to larger groups, as the amount of food a group requires increases linearly, while the amount of work said group can accomplish increases exponentially.

 

Hunting, on the other hand, should be difficult. You shouldn't be able to say, " Gee, I'm hungry!", pull out a rifle, and take down that stupid deer 15 feet away. A hunt should be something that takes in-game days of stalking, or in-game days of waiting in ambush, with all that implies (need food, water, warmth, etc). Miss that one shot you get, and you might just be fucked. However, on the other hand, taking down an animal should give you a LOT of resources, and not just a realistic supply of meat. Organ meats are tasty and excellent sources of nutrients, intestines can be made into waterproof containers, sinew can be used as binding materials, fur can be used to keep warm (as well as trade goods), skins (and by proxy, brains and brain-tanned leather) can be made into tough clothing, containers, armor, etc, as well as the sheer amount of food in the form of meat even an average-sized deer offers. However, said meat (and intestines, skins and leather, furs, etc) all need to be preserved so they don't rot. Right now, you magically make leather from the skin of an animal in order to make a pack. Foolishness. You should be able to make meat into jerky so it lasts longer, and smoke hides so they become semi-waterproof.

 

You can even do both at the same time, with a little work!

 

Finally, there is foraging. Now, we already have the basic aspects of foraging, with berries and apples. However, foraging is a very important Wilderness Survival skill, especially with regards to food and medicine. Day Z takes place in Autumn (based on environmental conditions), so logically, there would be a whole PLETHORA of nuts, tubers, berries, mosses, lichens, etc available. You can eat some, use some as medicinal items, use others as firestarters, others make effective shelter materials, however, you actually need to know what the plant is to use it! Foraging for numerous different materials should be included in Day Z, but it should require some knowledge, maybe from a plant/tree guide. (not just "find plant. In description: GOOD FOR EATING". It should be like "find plant. In description: plant is made up of a cluster of green , spearhead-shaped leaves, with a long solid stalk with bluish flowers growing off it. There is a thick, starchy root cluster". You would need a plant guide to identify this as the dock plant, a common yard weed. Or, you just eat it, and hope for the best)

 

Whilst I like the idea, this is never going to be in DayZ. I play the hunter for one and that's pretty complex hunting and we won't see that kind of coding in DayZ. Also, a hunt for days is off the table too because of the way food is used in game. A hunt lasting days would have to give you a boar that produced 500 meat steaks to be worth it. I think the rarity of animals will be the main issue with hunting but I'm not thinking food will ever be a huge problem in DayZ because you can grow, forage, hunt, fish and scavenge which is quite a lot.

[Whyherro123 2283]

Whilst I like the idea, this is never going to be in DayZ. I play the hunter for one and that's pretty complex hunting and we won't see that kind of coding in DayZ. Also, a hunt for days is off the table too because of the way food is used in game. A hunt lasting days would have to give you a boar that produced 500 meat steaks to be worth it. I think the rarity of animals will be the main issue with hunting but I'm not thinking food will ever be a huge problem in DayZ because you can grow, forage, hunt, fish and scavenge which is quite a lot.

Uh, yes? How much meat (and not just "lean" muscle meat. Organ meats (like the liver, kidneys, brain, etc), intestines, etc) do you think an actual animal has in real life? Probably more than you could eat on your own before it goes bad.

 

And, when persistence gets fixed, we would then have the perfect way of having unpreserved food go bad. Raw, fresh food (raw meat, vegetables, fish) would go bad the fastest, then followed by cooked versions of the above, then by preserved (smoked, dried, salted etc), then by canned food.  So, you can kill a deer, then spend a good amount of time preserving the meat so it doesn't go bad.

 

And I never said food should be a huge problem, I said that it should take longer. Right now (INB4 ALPHER, yes, I know), crops grow in literally minutes, and grow without any problems whatsoever. Where is the concern about the future harvest? Will you have enough to eat now, and also have enough to plant and have enough to eat in the future? Which is why I like having crops grow over a week of real time.

 

Animals should be harder to hunt, most definately. While "hunting for days" was a little hyperbolic, animals right now literally ignore you until you get within 10 or so feet. Does a deer do that in real life? IRL, hunters with rifles spend days (even seasons) waiting for the perfect shot. Granted, they are hunting for specific animals, and if you were hunting for food, you wouldn't be so picky, but the point remains. Hunting big game in Day Z should be difficult, but have a suitably large return. Small game should be far easier, but offer less of a return (a rabbit or squirrel give you one meal, maybe two, and a small skin)

[bfisher 561]

I think my character actually gained weight since the apocalypse.

[rickyriot 1009]

To put it into a meme...

 

 

 

 

If the devs seriously want people hunting, fishing, trapping (no not Bailey Jay) or farming then stop providing so much food. 

 

I also want the food values amended. At present if you eat one tin of peaches it's worth nearly 3 times a deer steak in calories but almost the same in terms of water content which is surely way off. In fact I started a thread a while back saying that we should now get rid of all food spawn (or at least make them very rare). Making people survive in the game rather than just being a giant PvP title.

 

http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/217845-time-to-remove-all-the-fresh-fruitveg-loot/

Edited January 15, 2015 by ricp

[Cartoonrboy 94]

There should be no canned food, except unlabeled cans, which provide minimal nourishment and can cause illness. This concept has been tested and is live upon the FINALdayZ Epoch Survival server. Namalsk benefits from being an island therefore fishing is always an option too. It was a decision I took to make the experience more authentic as I firmly believe that canned food would eventually run out, but it depends how far into the future the game is set and how many survivors are scavenging.

 

I do not like the idea of relying on our past society to support the player. I believe the point of DayZ is to challenge people to think differently about the world, their role in it and it's future. As populations explode and viruses become ever resistant to our modern medicines I can see absolute value in that.

[SMoss 2101]

The team does pull data from every version in order to analyze if item spawns are wildly askew for example. This can be used later on for balancing purposes related to "pushing" world interaction more, such as hunting/farming, but I could imagine that this is not the highest priority on their list just now.

[Jex 1104]

Uh, yes? How much meat (and not just "lean" muscle meat. Organ meats (like the liver, kidneys, brain, etc), intestines, etc) do you think an actual animal has in real life? Probably more than you could eat on your own before it goes bad.

 

And, when persistence gets fixed, we would then have the perfect way of having unpreserved food go bad. Raw, fresh food (raw meat, vegetables, fish) would go bad the fastest, then followed by cooked versions of the above, then by preserved (smoked, dried, salted etc), then by canned food.  So, you can kill a deer, then spend a good amount of time preserving the meat so it doesn't go bad.

 

And I never said food should be a huge problem, I said that it should take longer. Right now (INB4 ALPHER, yes, I know), crops grow in literally minutes, and grow without any problems whatsoever. Where is the concern about the future harvest? Will you have enough to eat now, and also have enough to plant and have enough to eat in the future? Which is why I like having crops grow over a week of real time.

 

Animals should be harder to hunt, most definately. While "hunting for days" was a little hyperbolic, animals right now literally ignore you until you get within 10 or so feet. Does a deer do that in real life? IRL, hunters with rifles spend days (even seasons) waiting for the perfect shot. Granted, they are hunting for specific animals, and if you were hunting for food, you wouldn't be so picky, but the point remains. Hunting big game in Day Z should be difficult, but have a suitably large return. Small game should be far easier, but offer less of a return (a rabbit or squirrel give you one meal, maybe two, and a small skin)

 

I'm not disagreeing with you but I don't think hunting will get the development time needed to make it that difficult. The Hunter can only draw in animals within 200 meters because of engine limitations and the coding they use for the AI - couple that with 50 player servers with gear and zombies, I just don't think it will be capable though I'd much prefer it to be.

 

I'm not saying you did say food would be an issue, I was saying I don't think the devs are going to make it that way, not too much anyway. I'm getting the feeling they're steering away from the "anti-game" and I'm sure growing things will take longer in time :)

[Jex 1104]

There should be no canned food, except unlabeled cans, which provide minimal nourishment and can cause illness. This concept has been tested and is live upon the FINALdayZ Epoch Survival server. Namalsk benefits from being an island therefore fishing is always an option too. It was a decision I took to make the experience more authentic as I firmly believe that canned food would eventually run out, but it depends how far into the future the game is set and how many survivors are scavenging.

 

I do not like the idea of relying on our past society to support the player. I believe the point of DayZ is to challenge people to think differently about the world, their role in it and it's future. As populations explode and viruses become ever resistant to our modern medicines I can see absolute value in that.

 

 

I'd prefer they have canned food at the beginning of release (which should last years perfectly ok, canned food does) but as time goes on, the canned food becomes less available so forcing people to hunt/grow/forage.

[Cartoonrboy 94]

I'd prefer they have canned food at the beginning of release (which should last years perfectly ok, canned food does) but as time goes on, the canned food becomes less available so forcing people to hunt/grow/forage.

 

That's a great compromise. It would effectively punish players whom join late, but so be it. I think DayZ desperately needs farming; it already has foraging and hunting. Farming provides a longer term investment and also provides a patch to defend/resources to gather.

[gorvi 189]

That's a great compromise. It would effectively punish players whom join late, but so be it. I think DayZ desperately needs farming; it already has foraging and hunting. Farming provides a longer term investment and also provides a patch to defend/resources to gather.

 

I can imagine when balancing and polished gameplay comes into priority, loot respawn will be for mostly "junk" items with the rare can of food, gun, or ammo.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Gorvi

[DeatHTaX 1217]

 

 

 A hunt should be something that takes in-game days of stalking, or in-game days of waiting in ambush, with all that implies (need food, water, warmth, etc). 

 

Well in a game where you starve in less than a day of in-game time that is a horrible idea. And seriously? Why would I want to play this game if it takes me literal hours to stalk one animal for food. If I wanted to play a hunting simulator I would play The Hunter, which I have, and even THAT game isn't completely "realistic". You know why?

 

Because no majority of players is going to have the patience to sit at a computer, stalking something they MAY NOT EVEN KILL for 4 to 5 hours.

 

Come on...seriously. You're letting your passion for hunting and survival cloud your judgement of what is practical in this game.

 

 

Honestly, if we want to reduce the amount of processed food in the map at any available time, I say bring back high-pop servers. That was the most fun I ever had in DayZ. Every town I went to I was lucky to find a can of beans, or sardines. Any loot I found I had to make due with. Killing people actually became a survival NECESSITY as you needed their supplies in order to live on, most scenarios.

 

High-pops are the way to go IMO, but I think this is kind of a non issue anyway, as I'm sure the devs will balance the loot tables to something that will be challenging, yet reasonable in the end.

Edited January 22, 2015 by DeatHTaX

[Cartoonrboy 94]

I have a server where there is no canned food, only unlabeled cans and bio meat which will infect. There are no cans of pop either, except for the cans in the vending machines (melt tin cans to make a tin bar to buy a can(chance of failure)). My players have to rely on hunting, fishing or stealing their food from Ai or players. They haven't complained and in fact relish the idea of an exhausted food supply. They can also siphon beer from the Ai brewery, but that is heavily defended. So food is not easy to come by, but the survivors here have managed admirably.

Edited January 23, 2015 by Cartoonrboy

[ErichZann 28]

I think what some people neglect here: If the solution to enforce hunting is to just reduce canned food spawns drastically, people will just starve directly. In my opinion, hunting is too difficult at the beginning of the game, even though several people here want it to be more difficult.

 

Sure, with a fully equipped character it is easy to hunt, thing is: It is most important to get food at the beginning when you spawn in hungry. So in my opinion, it should be much easier to aquire and axe, matches and a kitchen knife if the food spaws are reduced. Like right now you would just spawn, look for these items and starve. Sometimes it can really take aged to find an axe or matches!

I would love if everyone would be forced to hunt instead of just finding food, but just reducing the food spawn would be a bad way to do that.

 

And, for example, if you find an unlooted house, normally you should expect to find something like matches in almost every house. Same with kitchen knifes, how realistic is it that I walk through a medium sized city without a knife? Sure, other people could have been there before, but then again I would not die of starvation in 5 hours.

 

 

Like the system is now: When you really need hunting you cant do it, if you can, you dont need it. I like the mechanics themselves, but they are poorly implemented into the game concept in my eyes, and i really hope the developers have a plan for this, though i doubt it.

 

 

p.s.: Im sure many people will disagree with me, but then please: next time you spawn fresh, only live from meat you hunted and dont touch any of the food you may find, then you will see what i mean i think.

Edited January 31, 2015 by ErichZann

[foolee 43]

You can make a improvised knife so no need for a kitchen knife in every home in my opinion. Spawn rates are out for everything not just food. You can walk through entire town in some servers and never find anything. Go into others and your fully kitted. When I start off first thing I do is throw away my useless flashlight. Second is make a improvised knife. Then i find a boat, pickup a rope, boonie hat, fishing lure, rain coat and make my shirt into rags. I find a ashwood tree and search for sticks (knife has to be in hand).  Next is cutting down bushes with the knife for sticks. Find some feather at a chicken hut and now you have a functioning bow and you have not even stepped into a town. Kill a deer and now you got food and a backpack. Once the new animal updates are out then it will be easier as there will be more wildlife.

[ErichZann 28]

Yeah sounds reasonable, but try all that as a fresh spawn without picking other food, dont think it will work until you starve, or will it? and dont you need an axe to make fire?

[B4GEL 175]

There's nothing wrong with starving to death occasionally, it can make a great story.