Cooking in DayZ

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

Those "dumb" players should be at a disadvantage, but they shouldn't be unable to enjoy the game just because they're new. Their odds of survival should reflect their skill and experience.

 

That's a very good point, the non-PvP aspects of the game got too easy for me now and I tend to forget that newcomers can easily die of hypothermia, or even starvation on looted servers. However, instead of adding resources (which can be easily consumed by vets) with beginners in mind, what would you say about in-game survivor manuals, like "how to read the Cyrillic"? Think The Survivor's Guide to Chernarus: "combine a rope with an ashwood stick to make a bow or fishing rod". Alternatively, you can add such hints to item descriptions (shovel: "a basic melee weapon, useful for making gardening plots and digging up worms"). This way the beginners can try to figure it out with trials and errors and don't have to google stuff, which they need to do right now anyway (I don't know about you, I had to look up most of survival-related to-do's).

[Dagwood 680]

That's a very good point, the non-PvP aspects of the game got too easy for me now and I tend to forget that newcomers can easily die of hypothermia, or even starvation on looted servers. However, instead of adding resources (which can be easily consumed by vets) with beginners in mind, what would you say about in-game survivor manuals, like "how to read the Cyrillic"? Think The Survivor's Guide to Chernarus: "combine a rope with an ashwood stick to make a bow or fishing rod". Alternatively, you can add such hints to item descriptions (shovel: "a basic melee weapon, useful for making gardening plots and digging up worms"). This way the beginners can try to figure it out with trials and errors and don't have to google stuff, which they need to do right now anyway (I don't know about you, I had to look up most of survival-related to-do's).

There's a skyrim mod that forces you to prep food and rest and such to survive. Can't remember the name right now. Frost something.... But when you booted up a new character with that mod, you spawned with a survival manual of sorts like you suggested. In addition to this, rocket stated that he liked the gameplay that mod fostered, and looked to it for inspiration (don't know where I read it, don't ask).

I could see assorted "manuals" being super market spawns. Definitely. And as far as item descriptions being helpful to ignorant players, I think this is a great idea. I would be way more excited to pick up an item and experiment with it to discover it has some use rather than having to look it up on the internet.

How do you think what they're calling "soft skills" would work in conjunction with these manuals? Would they affect how effectively we can perform these actions? Or should it just be explanatory?

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

How do you think what they're calling "soft skills" would work in conjunction with these manuals? Would they affect how effectively we can perform these actions? Or should it just be explanatory?

 

I'm not sure if I follow you on those "soft skills". What do you mean by them? All I can say is that I picture such in-game help as very basic "rope. useful for making bows and fishing rods" so that people still have a lot of exploring by themselves. I wouldn't easily give away stuff like where to hunt, for example. I remember it took me several hours to find my first ashwood tree (as I was looking in the forest, chopping down many a greenish tree) and this is a very natural part of the learning process to me.

 

Alternatively, the ingame Survivor's Guide could come in volumes with varying degree of rarity and spawn location. Volume One: Bow Crafting for Dummies can be found in any supermarket. In Volume Two you may find descriptions of various animals (use of pelts, kcal per steak, etc.).  Give a good search to feedshacks for Volume Six and you just might learn where my favourite hunting grounds are...

 

When preparing such help, you need to have in mind a lot of survival-related aspects which a beginner doesn't have a change to get a clue at. Try to figure out for yourself how to craft a stone knife, for instance. Searching for kindlings is also something you may or may not notice, along with searching for stones. And without external help I would never put any berries in my mouth to check which ones are good - I cared too much for my character to experiment on him.

 

On the topic of cooking (sorry for hijacking the thread, but we are still close enough) - cooking books come as a very obvious choice, along with some rare grandma recipes (Steak and Potatoes' Steak and Potatoes) which spawn only in simplest residential buildings. :)

[TheHermit (DayZ) 22]

 

 

On the topic of cooking (sorry for hijacking the thread, but we are still close enough) - cooking books come as a very obvious choice, along with some rare grandma recipes (Steak and Potatoes' Steak and Potatoes) which spawn only in simplest residential buildings. :)

I love that.

 

Having to find a book for a specific recipe that gains you a unique advantage. And you need that book in order to activate that particular combination of food items to work properly.

With all the seeds around, it would be nice to see them have s more special use... it seems that they aren't popular with respect to the amount of them spawning around. But if I knew that collecting them would be rewarding if I found a special book... things like this add depth without forcing me into that particular gameplay. It's like having a passive side goal, and would lessen the troll-y feeling of certain overspawn of some items.

[Jex 1104]

Currently,it's quite uncommon for players to cook their food in DayZ.

Most of the people resort to eating cold canned or raw fruit and vegetables.

While i am aware that the cooking system is far from fleshed out,i believe that it should play a big role in the game.

There should be more incentives to force people cooking their food before consuming it.

 

What should be the possible benefits of consuming a prepared meal?

Should heating your can of beans or cooking your zucchini offer a nutrition value bonus?

Should uncooked meals worsen the player's "immune system" while cooked improves it,thus making survivors less prone to diseases?

What do you think? :)

 

 

As far as I'm concerned, cooking doesn't go far enough! I often cook for my friends and am quite partial to a bit of flamboyance. Right now, all I can do is serve Zucchini with steak and and tomatoes (the tomatoes are meant to be a sauce but all we can do is eat my meals in a specific order to simulate my culinary skills) then after that a fruit pie made from berries, apple, banana and kiwi's with a bottle of rasputin wine....or so I make every imagine!!

 

So yes, some attempt at allowing me to actually cook with ingredients would be welcomed...

 

 

:P

[Dagwood 680]

I'm not sure if I follow you on those "soft skills". What do you mean by them? All I can say is that I picture such in-game help as very basic "rope. useful for making bows and fishing rods" so that people still have a lot of exploring by themselves. I wouldn't easily give away stuff like where to hunt, for example. I remember it took me several hours to find my first ashwood tree (as I was looking in the forest, chopping down many a greenish tree) and this is a very natural part of the learning process to me.

Alternatively, the ingame Survivor's Guide could come in volumes with varying degree of rarity and spawn location. Volume One: Bow Crafting for Dummies can be found in any supermarket. In Volume Two you may find descriptions of various animals (use of pelts, kcal per steak, etc.). Give a good search to feedshacks for Volume Six and you just might learn where my favourite hunting grounds are...

I believe soft skills refers to how our characters will become more skilled at certain tasks the more we perform them. For example, the more we skin and butcher animals, the more yield we would get as this soft skill progresses. But I don't think these manuals should affect our skills at all. It should be as you said. They will be relatively unuseful to veteran players, but possibly a godsend for uninformed players.

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

As far as I'm concerned, cooking doesn't go far enough! I often cook for my friends and am quite partial to a bit of flamboyance. Right now, all I can do is serve Zucchini with steak and and tomatoes (the tomatoes are meant to be a sauce but all we can do is eat my meals in a specific order to simulate my culinary skills) then after that a fruit pie made from berries, apple, banana and kiwi's with a bottle of rasputin wine....or so I make every imagine!!

 

I hear ya, sometimes I mix kinds of food myself and pretend it's a dish. Small thing, but funny when me and my friend discuss how boar is more tasty than cow and with which veggies. :) Currently you can also put potatoes in fire and they warm up like guts, nothing really happens, but I guess roasted potatoes will be implemented in the future.

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

I believe soft skills refers to how our characters will become more skilled at certain tasks the more we perform them. For example, the more we skin and butcher animals, the more yield we would get as this soft skill progresses. But I don't think these manuals should affect our skills at all. It should be as you said. They will be relatively unuseful to veteran players, but possibly a godsend for uninformed players.

 

I had no idea about soft skills. Are these on the roadmap? I thought it's a very specific devs' idea that there are no skills, we all know the same theory and differences in practice boil down to players' know-how. I think I like it that way. I guess I will adapt to soft skills if I have to, but if killing people gives you better precision or weapon handling... I hope somebody will give this a second thought.

[Jex 1104]

A nice topic. On HC servers I tend to play with no premade food, only what I pick/grow/hunt/fish. This usually means that I start with apple picking until I'm close to full, which buys me enough time to find hunting/fishing tools.

 

However, I must say that I find dayz very immersive and this whole food aspect is somewhat puzzling to me. When you're starving, eating 3kg worth of apples is not going to get you energized, but rather put you on the shitter for the better part of the day. We can eat too much in one sitting and can live too long on only one food (after the initial period, I tend to live solely to steaks).

 

Now, I fully understand that this is for gameplay reasons and most people would strongly oppose any restrictions on that.

 

No screw em lol - we want to have to eat combinations of foods and have a detrimental effect if we don't eat a balanced diet otherwise why bother putting all the foods in there? As it goes right now, I always eat a balanced meal as much as I can (I'm sure they said in the past we'd need to eat a balanced meal). So I'll have a steak, then I'll eat a potato and a courgette followed by some fruits and usually you don't need much drink after that.

[Kirov (DayZ) 585]

 So I'll have a steak, then I'll eat a potato and a courgette followed by some fruits and usually you don't need much drink after that.

 

There were many instances when my character had a much better overall diet than me in RL at that moment. ;)

[Jex 1104]

I hear ya, sometimes I mix kinds of food myself and pretend it's a dish. Small thing, but funny when me and my friend discuss how boar is more tasty than cow and with which veggies. :) Currently you can also put potatoes in fire and they warm up like guts, nothing really happens, but I guess roasted potatoes will be implemented in the future.

 

 

If you cook boar don't forget to pick apples - apple sauce! ;)

[Dagwood 680]

I had no idea about soft skills. Are these on the roadmap? I thought it's a very specific devs' idea that there are no skills, we all know the same theory and differences in practice boil down to players' know-how. I think I like it that way. I guess I will adapt to soft skills if I have to, but if killing people gives you better precision or weapon handling... I hope somebody will give this a second thought.

I doubt it will be anything that critical in pvp. Maybe medical. Hopefully the majority will be survival based skills. Like not wearing your knife out as quickly when harvesting sticks from bushes. It wouldn't give players enough of an advantage to incentivize xp farming, but enough that you would value your character's life more and fight to survive frustratingly difficult situations, (dying of disease for example) rather than suiciding in an attempt to easily retrieve the gear.

If it's done tactfully, I say bring it on

[archamedes 238]

do you ever see Daryl Dixon Eating cold beans out of a can? Fuck no, he's picking cooked squirrel and rabbit out of his teeth bruh. I think the canned food should only have a positive effect in game if its cooked. For instance throw a can of beans onto a fire and you then see the name change to "cooked beans" Even have a little steam icon above it, same with spaghetti & bacon. Help foece the canned food to be cooked rather than chowed down raw.

 

Secondly, I want to actually create usable recipes like fruit salad, soups, cooked rice in the pot mixed with water from the canteen, damn even get drunk effects from drinking too much rasputin kvass. I know thats not related, but wanted to say that one for a long time but didnt want to dedicate a whole thread for it

Edited February 4, 2015 by archamedes

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

do you ever see Daryl Dixon Eating cold beans out of a can? Fuck no, he's picking cooked squirrel and rabbit out of his teeth bruh. I think the canned food should only have a positive effect in game if its cooked. For instance throw a can of beans onto a fire and you then see the name change to "cooked beans" Even have a little steam icon above it, same with spaghetti & bacon. Help foece the canned food to be cooked rather than chowed down raw.

 

Secondly, I want to actually create usable recipes like fruit salad, soups, cooked rice in the pot mixed with water from the canteen, damn even get drunk effects from drinking too much rasputin kvass. I know thats not related, but wanted to say that one for a long time but didnt want to dedicate a whole thread for it

 

Or tweak it that canned food giving half of their nutrition value raw and full when heated on the fire.

Beans have been boiled before making their way into the cans,so realistically speaking they are pretty much eatible.

Recipes using combo ingredients should provide additional bonus.

Let's use Steak and Potatoes for an example.

When cooking the steak it gives you let's say 100 nutrition bonus.

Cooking the potatoes gives you 50 nutrition bonus.

Consuming each of them separately should give you 150 nutrition bonus in total.

However,i"m in favor of combining these 2 ingredients,into the "Steak and Potatoes" recipe awarding the player 200 nutrition.

This 50 bonus nutrition,is enough incentive for people cooking and combining their food ingredients.

[Jex 1104]

No, canned food is entirely edible you don't need to cook a thing and if anything, you're just reheating the contents because it's nicer when it's warmer. I'm not so fussed about canned food being available. What I want to see is each month, the devs drop the numbers a little until canned food is super rare.

[Damnyourdeadman 1045]

No, canned food is entirely edible you don't need to cook a thing and if anything, you're just reheating the contents because it's nicer when it's warmer. I'm not so fussed about canned food being available. What I want to see is each month, the devs drop the numbers a little until canned food is super rare.

 

Yep they are pretty much edible either way.

However,it is proved that cooked foods does indeed replenish hunger almost twice effective than dry food.

Reducing canned items to very rare is indeed effective.

But if we implement a mechanic where,consuming  them raw provides only half the nutrition instead of cooking,imo will further improve the cooking incentive.

[Jex 1104]

Yep they are pretty much edible either way.

However,it is proved that cooked foods does indeed replenish hunger almost twice effective than dry food.

Reducing canned items to very rare is indeed effective.

But if we implement a mechanic where,consuming  them raw provides only half the nutrition instead of cooking,imo will further improve the cooking incentive.

 

I'm all for adding the affects of heated food but on the subject of canned foods, I want them to become rarer as the months go on otherwise there's hardly any point in farming. A slow, gradual decrease in canned food will make everyone learn how to forage, hunt and grow things to survive :)

[Tatanko 5591]

However, how do we boil / make soups? Well, there is the spawned-loot "metal pot", but IRL I prefer to not carry a large one. I make my own from cans: A large "#10" can will make a servicable pot for a decently sized group, and a large soup can makes a good pot for an individual. Can-pots are sturdy, easy to make, can hold a lot of liquid for their size, and easy to pack and carry.

Empty cans are easily my favorite out-of-civilization method of cooking and eating. If the first two things you did for yourself when spawning into the game were to make an improvised knife and pick up (and clean) an empty can, you could do quite a lot towards surviving out of "nothing".