Additional Food Items

[Xbow 362]

I would like to see some new food items.

1) MREs at military loot spawns. As for how nutritious they are I would say that they should require a liter of water and have as many servings (5) as a box of Crunch and Crisps but require just 2 inventory slots

2) Cup Of Noodles that require a liter of hot water and have a few servings of nutritional value. The item should take up 1 inventory slot.  

3) Bottles of wine that have 1 liter of water and  a nutrition value of 2 servings as well as a Mood Elevating Kick. The downside is that drinking a bottle will after a short time give you a hang over that has a negative effect on your marksmanship and the bottle should take up two inventory slots

Note: Empty wine bottles should be fashionable into  Molotov Cocktails with a liter of fuel and a rag. Of course you must have matches to ignite it. 

 

Just an Idea or two

 

 

Edited May 14, 2016 by Xbow

[Whyherro123 2283]

screw packaged food, I still want to see acorns and cattails implemented.

Seriously, I am so goddamn sick of being able to watch the literal acres of cattail fronds merrily waving in the breeze, and the fact that we can interact with oak trees, yet can't take advantage of the literal mountains of food that would be available.

Everyone complains about "there not being enough food", but they just haven't implemented it yet. 

And it is even balanced! You need to roast cattail rhizomes in order to eat them, bake the pollen (read: flour substitute) into bread, and boil acorns in order to make them edible.

Cattail rhizomes actually contain more starch than a similar amount of potato. 

Or, nettles. Nettles are already in the game, and if you cook them, the leaves become edible (and rather tasty), and the fiber in the stems can be made into cordage.

 

[BeefBacon 1185]

1 hour ago, Whyherro123 said:

screw packaged food, I still want to see acorns and cattails implemented.

Seriously, I am so goddamn sick of being able to watch the literal acres of cattail fronds merrily waving in the breeze, and the fact that we can interact with oak trees, yet can't take advantage of the literal mountains of food that would be available.

Everyone complains about "there not being enough food", but they just haven't implemented it yet. 

And it is even balanced! You need to roast cattail rhizomes in order to eat them, bake the pollen (read: flour substitute) into bread, and boil acorns in order to make them edible.

Cattail rhizomes actually contain more starch than a similar amount of potato. 

Or, nettles. Nettles are already in the game, and if you cook them, the leaves become edible (and rather tasty), and the fiber in the stems can be made into cordage.

I'm sure that's all true, but wouldn't that lead to an overabundance of food? It might require some preparation, sure, but it's not very difficult to build a fire. Hunting and scavenging for pre-packed food, however, can be challenging and risky. Apples and berries interfere somewhat with the survival aspect of the game, so I hope they'll be balanced. If acorns or whatever are balanced in the same way (say each bush or tree has a limited supply of food that can be harvested) I could get behind it. In fact it'd be excellent, because pooly equipped players will be restricted to apples and berries, while players that have pots and pans and matches will have access to more food.

I'm definitely up for MREs, however.

[IkaikaKekai 1957]

Pretty much all prepackaged rahmin is already cooked (usually deep fried) and I know people who eat it straight out of the package.  Some brands are a bit better about adding nutrition than others, but it's mostly carbs and flavor.  Should be an option to eat it raw but with a dehydration penalty, like eating powdered milk or cereal.

[Whyherro123 2283]

1 hour ago, BeefBacon said:

I'm sure that's all true, but wouldn't that lead to an overabundance of food? It might require some preparation, sure, but it's not very difficult to build a fire. Hunting and scavenging for pre-packed food, however, can be challenging and risky. Apples and berries interfere somewhat with the survival aspect of the game, so I hope they'll be balanced. If acorns or whatever are balanced in the same way (say each bush or tree has a limited supply of food that can be harvested) I could get behind it. In fact it'd be excellent, because pooly equipped players will be restricted to apples and berries, while players that have pots and pans and matches will have access to more food.

I'm definitely up for MREs, however.

That is another thing that should be difficult: building a fire in this game is too damn easy, especially using the current "stick and bark" method. That method is, by far, the most arduous primitive fire starting method.

I have ALWAYS supported the idea that ALL foragable plants should have an "inventory", that is, instead of the current asinine "RNG fruit picking" mechanic, you instead 1) go up to the plant, 2) pick "forage" from the context menu, 3) a screen pops up, like the "vehicle inventory" screen, where you see the foragables of the plant. Each plant would have a limited amount of foragables. As players remove foragables, this inventory shrinks, until all that is left is the undesirable bits, like mushy, rotten apples and worm-infested acorns.

For example, cattail plants would have 1 rhizome, 1 seed head, and 1 stalk. Picking any or all of these would remove the plant from the game world. Apples would have a decent amount of fruit, but a large percentage of it would be degraded. Same with berries. Acorns could be gathered in much of the same way that "small stones" currently are: go into the woods, look at the ground, and select "look for acorns" from the context menu.

One thing to remember about wild plants and foraging is that it is VERRRYYYYYYY labor-intensive. It isn't just "there", like picking up cans of food in a house. You actually have to go get it With cattails, you 1) have to get wet, which can be, and often is, lethal in a survival situation. Plus, you actually have to dig around in the muck for the rhizomes. With acorns, you have to gather  A LOT. And it takes a while depending on the concentration of oak trees. Plus, you generally have to boil the acorns many times, changing the water each time, in order to make them palatable.

I am of the firm belief that it should be entirely possible to survive entirely in the woods, without once going into a town for loot. On the other hand, said wilderness survival should take a long time and be effort-intensive.

Basically:

-Looting towns: fast, easy and dangerous

-Foraging/hunting: slow, hard and safe.

 

[BeefBacon 1185]

1 hour ago, Whyherro123 said:

That is another thing that should be difficult: building a fire in this game is too damn easy, especially using the current "stick and bark" method. That method is, by far, the most arduous primitive fire starting method.

I have ALWAYS supported the idea that ALL foragable plants should have an "inventory", that is, instead of the current asinine "RNG fruit picking" mechanic, you instead 1) go up to the plant, 2) pick "forage" from the context menu, 3) a screen pops up, like the "vehicle inventory" screen, where you see the foragables of the plant. Each plant would have a limited amount of foragables. As players remove foragables, this inventory shrinks, until all that is left is the undesirable bits, like mushy, rotten apples and worm-infested acorns.

For example, cattail plants would have 1 rhizome, 1 seed head, and 1 stalk. Picking any or all of these would remove the plant from the game world. Apples would have a decent amount of fruit, but a large percentage of it would be degraded. Same with berries. Acorns could be gathered in much of the same way that "small stones" currently are: go into the woods, look at the ground, and select "look for acorns" from the context menu.

One thing to remember about wild plants and foraging is that it is VERRRYYYYYYY labor-intensive. It isn't just "there", like picking up cans of food in a house. You actually have to go get it With cattails, you 1) have to get wet, which can be, and often is, lethal in a survival situation. Plus, you actually have to dig around in the muck for the rhizomes. With acorns, you have to gather  A LOT. And it takes a while depending on the concentration of oak trees. Plus, you generally have to boil the acorns many times, changing the water each time, in order to make them palatable.

I am of the firm belief that it should be entirely possible to survive entirely in the woods, without once going into a town for loot. On the other hand, said wilderness survival should take a long time and be effort-intensive.

Basically:

-Looting towns: fast, easy and dangerous

-Foraging/hunting: slow, hard and safe.

 

I could get behind that. I'd maybe simplify the things you can gather, but I do like the idea of waste products. They shouldn't be entirely useless (bad apples, for example, could be a sort of last resort food. Maybe some sort of mulch could be used as fertilizer or in fuel or something like that).

I hope the devs outline how difficult they want the game to be as some point. I know they've said they want it to be difficult, but I'm wondering how difficult. As someone who wants a challenging game, there are limits where, for me, it would become too difficult and therefore not fun. Currently it is far too easy. I've said before that .55 was the most fun I've ever had in DayZ, just because finding the most simple items was extremely difficult. Using that as a base, I'm wondering if 1.0 will be more or less difficult than .55. I suppose you can't really compare .55 and 1.0 and 'difficulty' is a nebulous quantifier, but I'd still like to know more. 

[Xbow 362]

24 minutes ago, Whyherro123 said:

TOne thing to remember about wild plants and foraging is that it is VERRRYYYYYYY labor-intensive.

I am of the firm belief that it should be entirely possible to survive entirely in the woods, without once going into a town for loot. On the other hand, said wilderness survival should take a long time and be effort-intensive.

 

Depending only on gathering wild growing stuff for sustenance is actually a ticket to starvation in the long run. Native cultures that depended too heavily on  gathering were not successful in getting enough calories to maintain a high energy output.   Cattail Narrow Leaf Shoots have about 10 calories per shoot. Nettles average about 40 calories per cup, One ounce of prepared and cooked Acorns delivers 70 calories of fat and 40 calories of incomplete vegetable protein. Cooked and mashed Pumpkin deliver about 50 calories for an 8 ounce serving. Average sized apples have about 80 calories each.An active man of average size needs 2400 to 3000 calories per day lets call it an average of 2700 calories/day.

Getting all of that from  gathering and preparing the plants mentioned would mean you would have to eat

1.5 lb of cattail shoots ----~200 calories

1 pound of nettles--- 400 calories

2.5 pounds of mashed pumpkin---300 calories

1 pound of raw blackberries---200 calories

10 average sized apples-------800 ca

that's 2000 calories and you still need to get another  600 to 1000 calories.

Obviously wild vegetables are a supplement to your main diet that should be meat and fish 

Lean Pork 1050 calories per pound

Bacon 2400 calories per pound

Lean Beef 1300 calories per pound

Deer Meat (venison) 715 calories per pound. 

Fish (average) 450  calories per pound.

And you should be able to get more from a hog deer or cow than 5 damn steaks. You should be able to get at least 25 pounds of meat (beef from a cow) and have the option of drying it down to give ~1200 calories for a 6 ounce strip. (20 strips) weight ~7 pounds 

Hey how about  Beehives than can be smoked out and robbed of some of its Honey combs. Good calorie density for 85 calories a ounce or +1300 calories per pound.

A 1 pound can of pork and beans delivers over 500 calories to your gut a one pound can of Bacon delivers 2400 calories to your gut.  

A note about Canned food: Any damaged cans of food should require cooking lest you risk some serious gastrointestinal problems. And if the can has botulinum toxin in it despite the fact that you killed all  the active Clostridium botulinum bacteria by cooking it..you could die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Whyherro123 2283]

The cattail shoot is like, I dunno, that little sprig of lettuce/celery/parsley you get with a fancy dinner. Fancy, and it might taste good, but the "real" part of the meal is the rhizome.

Cattail rhizomes have more starch than potatoes. Crush the rhizomes in water, let the starch settle out, mix it with the pollen into a kind of dough, and bake it on a stick/hot rock. Nothing better. Or, throw the rhizome right onto some hot embers, then eat the starch right out of the center.

And I have always wanted animals to provide more meat. Not just lean meat, but organs (kinda implemented, but not in any sort of real fashion), fat (implemented), and bone marrow.

A decent sized deer should provide SO MUCH FOOD, one person couldn't possibly eat it all before it goes bad. 

On the same hand, I have also always wanted there to be some form of food preservation. I prefer smoking, as it is relatively simple, "hands-off", and can preserve almost anything, meat, fish , berries, fruit, etc. Other methods include salting and air/sun drying.

I also only mentioned the above plants because they are actually visible in the game. There are, of course, many many others, that are also visible. 

The thing about the plants I mentioned, especially cattail and acorns, isn't that they are nutritionally/calorically deficient, it is that they are also pretty common, and therefore, "easy" to gather in bulk. Last October, I gathered around 20lbs of acorns over a couple of days, and that was from just one tree. In areas where oak trees are common, you can gather A LOT very quickly. Especially since they are so easy to gather (go up to tree, whack with heavy stick). The processing takes more time than the gathering. Same thing with cattail. Last fall, when I demonstrated the usefulness of cattail to my Scout Troop, in the 30 minutes I was in the water for, I yanked out enough rhizomes to feed everyone until they were full. 

And Day Z takes place during the time of year when both examples would be ready for the picking.

 

Edited May 15, 2016 by Whyherro123