Food balancing attempt, along with some misc food-ideas

[Azamagon]

Heya fellows! First time posting here (so be gentle please! :D)

I've split this up in sections, so it is easier to track:

MISC. NEW ITEMS AND SUGGESTIONS (Somewhat important to read before going in to the Crock Pot recipes):

Spoiler

MILKING KIT
An item you can use to milk Beefalos and Volt Goats. If you use it without specific protection, when you're done milking the Beefalo might kick you and the Volt Goat might zap you. To prevent kicks/zaps, you need a Beefalo Hat or some electric insulation item respectively (i.e. Rain Hat, Rain Coat or Eyebrella). As a fun farmer-hint, the Strawhat could potentially also be used to protect you from either of the effects, but each milking will wear down the durability of the Strawhat significantly (like at least 20% per milking).

For the milking procedure, there has to be a lengthy cooldown before you can milk the same creature again, so it's not too easy to obtain lots of dairy-products.

As for the Milking Kit's stats:

Crafting requirements: 4 logs, 1 papyrus, 2 silk. Requires Science Machine to craft.
Uses: 10 charges (i.e. uses 10% durability per use).
It'd just look like an empty bucket, basicly, Perhaps accompanied by some empty bottles too (because "logic").

BEEFALO MILK
You get this from milking Beefalos (can't obtain it any other way, perhaps?).

Stats: +1 health, +9,375 hunger, -5 sanity. Spoils in 6 days.
Counts as 1 Dairy in food value.

Basicly, a much weaker version of Electric Milk. This is due to how much easier it would be to get.

DRIED PEPPER
So, this fooditem.can be obtained by hanging a Pepper (can't be Roasted Pepper) on a Drying Rack.

Stats: -3 health, +3 hunger, -10 sanity. Does NOT spoil.
Counts as a regular Pepper for the Crock Pot recipes it is included in. Also useable for Warly when creating his special Chili Flakes seasoning.

Also, Peppers could spawn in the ground during Summer, similar to Carrots. That makes Summer not just a pure hassle, but also gives you an item during Summer which you can use OUTSIDE of Summer (similar to how you can get Ice during Winter). Sure, you can get Pepper from farms as well, but it would still give some more value to the Summer season as it'd be more pretty easy to just scavenge for Peppers and dry them, rather than needing to get them by luck or putting in effort with Pepper seeds.

WATERING BUCKET
A very simple item, used as a means to keep farms and bushes hydrated during summer, without the need for an Ice-Flingomatic to be near them. When used, it fully hydrates the farmplot/bush, but uses one charge of the Watering Bucket.

Crafting requirements: 2 gold, 4 Ice.
Uses: 20 uses (Meaning each use consumes 5%).
Refillability: 1 Ice restores 25% of its uses. If the Watering Bucket reaches 0%, it will NOT be destroyed (making it similar to the Lantern)

And speaking of farms:

Well, there ya go! Watering buckets are now part of the game!

FARM + IMPROVED FARM changes
Farmplots now have a chance to spawn TWO crops when fully grown!
When farm is fully fertilized and hydrated, the doubling chance is 100%.
If it is vey lower in hydration and/or in fertilization status (like when it can only grow one more crop), the doubling chance could get as low as 10%.

With this, farming for crops might be considered more worthwhile.

And there ya go AGAIN! Now you can get a lot more crops from farms! That said, I'd suggest some changes to the new farming mechanics, as I feel they are bit too overcomplicated at the moment. So, the following ideas are to tone down that a notch:

• Nutrient mechanic. I feel this is the most overcomplicating mechanic of the new farms, and honestly an unnecessary one at that. I'd simplify it like this: Plants no longer need a variety of Manure/Compost/Growth Formula. Instead, the "Nutrients" is simply a value of how much the various crops deplete the farmland. With that, the Nutrient-items are also changed:
  • Manures (Manure, Guano, Bucket-of-Poop etc) -> Replenishes the depleted farmlands, like how it used to work with the old farms.
  • Growth Formula -> Apply to specific plants to make them grow much, much faster. Has more uses per bottle
  • Compost - > Could work similar to Manures, but is more effective.
• "Family"-mechanic - Makes plants grow faster, nothing else. No longer necessary to gain giant crops.

With that, you don't HAVE to plant a specific set of plants - nor in specific patterns - to selfsustain one another and/or get giant crops. Note that there'd still be many things to maintain (Happiness, Watering, Weeds, Manures to replenish exhausted farmland, Proper season), so it's not like it would be an effortless endeavour. It would add a lot of freedom to it though.

RAW INGREDIENTS:

Spoiler

NOTE: While it may seem weird to have some nerfs in here, read in the "misc new items and suggestions" tab about the Farm+Improved Farm suggestion where they would have a chance to double the amount of crops you get per growth! This means that, despite some of the nerfs in this section (done for the sake of overall food-balance), farming for crops would still be improved overall!

EDIT: With the newest farms being able to provide a lot more crops, some of the changes below being nerfs are now justified. You can not only get more crops, they are also way more sustainable AND some Crock Pot dishes which contain theses ingredients are suggested to be buffed to be more worthwhile.

ASPARAGUS
Raw: Unchanged
Cooked: +8 health, +18,75 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity)
Swapped some of its filling properties over to healing so it's not such an extreme shift in hunger-boost from raw to cooked (it currently goes from 12,5 to 25)

CORN
Raw: +3 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: +3 health, +9,375 hunger, +5 sanity (from +3 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
Made both corn and popcorn (moreso raw corn) less filling, while making popcorn more useful with a sanity boost (because you know, it's POPCORN! :D) so there's a use for both of them. Fish with Corn-qualities (like Popperfish and Corncod) are also changed accordingly.

DRAGON FRUIT
Raw: +8 health, +18,75 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +9,375 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: +20 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity (from +20 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
To emphasize its rarity, it's made stronger.

EEL
Live / Raw: +3 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +9,375 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: +8 health, +18,75 hunger, 0 sanity (from +8 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
Made it slightly more filling, considering it is exclusive to the harsh Caves and it is sort of a "medium" fish with its 1 fish value and 0,5 meat value (it also ties in with some fish-based Crock Pot-dishes, so it's a bit more balanced live/raw/cooked vs Crock Potted).

EGGPLANT
Raw: +3 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity (from +8 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: +8 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity (from +20 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity)
Reduced its healing value to it make more generally useable in Crock Pots as a veggie option.

POMEGRANATE
Raw: +8 health, +9,375 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +9,375 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: Unchanged
Just upped its raw healing power a bit (still much better to cook of course, with its +20 health)

POTATO
Raw: Unchanged
Cooked: +3 health, +18,75 hunger, 0 sanity (from +20 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity)
Heavily nerfed, especially considering how common they are from farming. Even so, they'd still (Crock Pot recipes aside) be the most filling common farm-food you can get.

PUMPKIN
Raw: +3 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity (from +3 health, +37,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
Cooked: Raw: +8 health, +25 hunger, 0 sanity (from +8 health, +37,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
Sadly, I had to nerf the big hungervalue of Pumpkins, as their immense stats were hard to balance around.

TOMA ROOT
Raw: Unchanged
Cooked: +8 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity (from +20 health, +12,5 hunger, 0 sanity)
Similar reasoning as on the Potatoes.

CROCK POT DISHES:

Spoiler

ASPARAGUS SOUP
Stats: +30 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity (from +20 health, +18,75 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Buffed up considerably so it's not a waste to make, basicly.

BANANA POP
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: 3 days normally (which is unchanged), but 36 days in ice box! (Instead of 6 days in ice box)
Made it longlasting in ice boxes considering its "icy" nature.

BARNACLE LINGUINE
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Only needs 1 Vegetable value, instead of 2!
Spoilage: Unchanged
This makes the dish more readily available on the ocean (using 2 Kelps or 1 Corn), and a bunch more worthwhile to make in regards to the hungervalue it can provide.

BARNACLE NIGIRI
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Can either use 1 Kelp Frond, or 1 Lichen for its requirements
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just for consistency's sake, in the case of someone potentially bringing down Barnacles to the caves or Lichens to the surface.

BEEFY GREENS
Stats: +30 health, +75 hunger, +5 sanity (from +40 health, +75 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
This change mostly goes hand in hand with the Jelly Salad suggestion (I suggested to make Jelly Salad a healing dish instead of a sanity dish). If Jelly Salad is unchanged, so could this (although, I do find it a tad powerful considering you can farm this recipe's ingredients very easily and safely), as the nerf here is mostly to emphasize Jelly Salad's role as a healing dish.

CALIFORNIA ROLL
Stats: +10 health, +62,5 hunger, +20 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +10 sanity)
Recipe: Can either use 2 Kelp Fronds, or 2 Lichen (or 1 of each). Higher priority than Unagi.
Spoilage: Unchanged
Added more hunger and sanity to this dish (with a bit of a reduction in its health-bonus) so it feels more generally viable to make. Allowing Lichen instead of Kelps also makes this recipe more accessible down in the caves too.

CEVICHE
Stats: +20 health, +25 hunger, +33 sanity (from +20 health, +25 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Only needs 1 Fish value, instead of 2!
Spoilage: 10 days normally (which is unchanged), but 30 days in ice box! (Instead of 20 days in ice box)
Major buffs to an extremely underwhelming dish. While its overall stats still remain on the lower end, with its cheaper recipe it could potentially get a useable sanity- and spoilage-niche (in particular on the ocean), so it has a point of existing, basicly.

DRAGONPIE
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Now also requires 1 Egg value, on top of the Dragon Fruit.
Spoilage: Unchanged
To reduce its extremely strong potency a tad. Note that the baseline Dragon Fruit changes also made Dragonpie indirectly further a little less extreme as well. It's still a really good dish though.

FISH TACOS
Stats: +12 health, +50 hunger, +10 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Beefed up the hunger and sanity bonuses a bit, at the cost of some of its health, so it has a potent hunger-niche.

FISHSTICKS
Stats: +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity (from +40 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Greatly nerfed in its healing due to how it generally invalidates a lot of other fish-dishes (at least / especially in regards to healing). Even so, it remains a highly efficient dish for both health and hunger.

FIST FULL OF JAM
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Now requires 1 Fruit value, instead of just 0,5.
Spoilage: Unchanged
While many people complain about Fist Full of Jam being a bad dish - it's ironically one of the very best recipes in regards to boosting the hungervalue of the used ingredients, if you use 1 Berry + 3 Ice. It rivals Meaty Stew in effectiveness, even (!). With this change, its hungerboosting properties is heavily toned down.
Reverted

FLOWER SALAD
Stats: +40 health, +25 hunger, +5 sanity (from +40 health, +12,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: 1 Cactus Flower, 1 Vegetable, allows inedibles like twigs etc. (From 1 Cactus Flower, 1,5 Vegetable, does not allow inedibles)
Spoilage: Unchanged
Slight buff to its hunger fill, so it's a bit more potent. Reducing the veggies needed makes them easier to cook, like after a single Cactus pick during summer (1 flower and 1 cactus flesh along with 2 twigs is now enough)

FRUIT MEDLEY
Stats: +30 health, +37,5 hunger, +33 sanity (from +20 health, +25 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged, but should be fixed to not become Fist Full of Jam if a stick is not used.
Spoilage: Unchanged
Even though this seems like a big buff across the board, it would actually still be quite a weak dish. At least now you would, for the most part, gain something out of this dish.

GUACAMOLE
Stats: +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +15 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just gave this a tad more sanity, as the dish is a tad more specific / requiring than other similarly beneficial dishes. At least, imo.

HONEY NUGGETS
Stats: +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +10 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just gave this a tad more sanity, as the dish seem to be considered very tasty by all the meat-eating survivors. Also, while it probably is intended to have pretty meager stat-boosting, I feel even with that in mind it's too low when used with its most efficient recipe (1 Monster Meat, 1 Honey and 2 Ice)

ICE CREAM
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: 3 days normally (which is unchanged), but 36 days in ice box! (Instead of 6 days in ice box)
Made it longlasting in ice boxes considering its "icy" nature. Note that with the suggested Milking Kit and Beefalo Milk, this (imo slightly underwhelming) recipe would also be a whole lot easier to make.

JELLY SALAD
Stats: +50 health, +37,5 hunger, +0 sanity (from +0 health, +37,5 hunger, +50 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
I find it really weird that a dish which most of the survivors are rather questionable about, has such a big sanity-boost. If it was swapped over to restore loads of health, that'd make more sense (since it seems like a "healthy" kind of dish, rather than a tasty one). Of course, I can see that it could TASTE extremely nice, so I only suggest this change very lightly. However, it would in turn give a bit more value to Veggie Burger as being the best sanity-dish of the Leafy Meat-dishes.

KABOBS
Stats: +3 health, +37,5 hunger, +10 sanity (from +3 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Special: Increases temp by 1 degree per second for 5 seconds (instead of 15 seconds)
Just gave this a tad more sanity (at the cost of some of its temperature-bonus duration), so it has some more value over other cheap meat-dishes - which generally don't restore a lot of sanity.

MEATBALLS
Stats: +8 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity (from +3 health, +62,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
You probably saw this coming. Meatballs are far too strong for how easy its recipe is (especially when you learn you can make this with 3 ice and either a Morsel, a Monster Meat or a Barnacle). In fact, with this nerf, it might become a bit of a "nooby" food (akin to Ratatouille and Fist Full of Jam when you don't know how to make those more efficiently, but even so, Meatballs would still be generally less punishing and still rewarding if you know the efficient recipes).
However, to compensate for the big hunger nerf, it had a small buff towards its health restoration.

MEATY STEW
Stats: +3 health, +135 hunger, +5 sanity (from +3 health, +150 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just a slight nerf to tone down its hungergain per fooditem a slight notch. It'd still remain among the very best dishes, but some dishes can now compete. Also, it makes it easier to use effectively for characters which has 150 max hunger.

MELONSICLE
Stats: +3 health, +18,75 hunger, +20 sanity (from +3 health, +12,5 hunger, +20 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: 3 days normally (which is unchanged), but 36 days in ice box! (Instead of 6 days in ice box)
Made it longlasting in ice boxes considering its "icy" nature. A bit more hunger is also to make the recipe a bit more net-positive. It's still a weak recipe though, aside from the cooling power it has (and now also has a spoiling advantage).

MILKMADE HAT
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Can now use either 1 Kelp Frond, or 1 Lichen
Spoilage: Unchanged
By allowing it to use Lichen, and with the easier access to Dairy products (via the Milking Kit suggestion), this recipe could potentially now be more worth its hassle.

PUFFED POTATO SOUFFLÉ
Stats: +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +33 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +15 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
The only Warly-specific food I felt really needed to be changed. With the same stats-gain as Creamy Potato Purée, it'd now be something Warly could more seriously consider making, in order to save Garlic for his seasoning while still making a sanity-boosting potato dish.

PUMPKIN COOKIES
Stats: +30 health, +37,5 hunger, +25 sanity (from +0 health, +37,5 hunger, +15 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: 20 days (from 10)
Even with the hungernerf on the raw/cooked Pumpkins, this recipe still needed quite a buff, as Pumpkin Cookies is currently one of the worst recipes you can make, actually. Considering the materials needed, it'd still be a bit on the weaker side of things, but the suggested increase in spoilage time could give it some usefulness.

RATATOUILLE
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Now requires 1 Vegetable value, instead of just 0,5.
Spoilage: Unchanged
Similar to Fist Full of Jam -> Even while many people complain about Ratatouille being a bad dish - it's ironically ALSO one of the very best recipes in regards to boosting the hungervalue of the used ingredients, if you use 1 Mushroom + 3 Ice. It ALSO rivals Meaty Stew in effectiveness, even (!). With this change, its hungerboosting properties is heavily toned down.
Reverted

SEAFOOD GUMBO
Stats: +30 health, +120 hunger, +5 sanity (from +40 health, +37,5 hunger, +20 sanity)
Recipe: Still requires 2,25 Fish value, but now the Meat value can be equal to the Fish value (or less than the Fish value, still). If the Meat value exceeds the Fish value, you get Surf 'n' Turf instead (as I've suggested that Surf 'n' Turf MUST have a Meat value higher than the Fish value)
Spoilage: Unchanged
With this recipe-change, you can now make this recipe while on the Ocean (instead of only in the Cave, since Eel is the only thing that currently has more Fish value than Meat value in DST). Which imo makes sense, since it's called SEAfood Gumbo, hehe. The huge buff to make it a LOT more filling (at the cost of most of its sanity boost and some of its healing) would also make it more worthwhile, considering the heavy fish-investment for it.

SPICY CHILI
Stats: +20 health, +62,5 hunger, +0 sanity (from +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +0 sanity)
Recipe: 1 Meat, 1 Pepper, 1 Vegetable (instead of 1,5 Meat and 1,5 Vegetables)
Fillers: Cannot be Inedible
Priority: Still at 10 (This means: Adding egg/honey/twig = Still results in Spicy Chili, NOT Pierogi/Honey Nuggets/Kabobs)
Spoilage: Unchanged
This recipe change mostly goes together with the "Peppers grow during Summer"-idea. Regardless, it's a rather weak recipe, thus the hunger-boost (which I would suggest even with no change to the recipe). With the hunger-boost it would also differentiate itself further from Stuffed Pepper Poppers (which has more healing benefit, while Spicy Chili now has more of a hunger benefit).

STUFFED EGGPLANT
Stats: +3 health, +50 hunger, +5 sanity (from +3 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Got a hunger-buff, so it's more worthwhile to make.

STUFFED FISH HEADS
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: 6 days (up from 3)
This dish is quite ok, but spoils too fast for its own good.

SURF 'N' TURF
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Still requires 1,5 Fish value and 2,5 Meat value, but now the Meat value MUST be higher than the Fish value (otherwise you get Seafood Gumbo).
Spoilage: Unchanged
With this recipe-change, you now must bring non-fish based meat in order to make this recipe when on the Ocean. It's still readily available in the Caves (via 2 Eels and 2 Monster meat). Imo, I feel this recipe-change (and the change on Seafood Gumbo) makes a lot of sense, as Surf 'n' Turf IRL is based on having red meat with fish, so having it available by using ONLY fish always felt weird to me.

TRAIL MIX
Stats: +30 health, +25 hunger, +10 sanity (from +30 health, +12,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
I know quite a lot of people find this dish quite strong. Personally, I feel it's actually rather weak. So, a mild buff on its weaker stats is something I felt was in order.

TURKEY DINNER
Stats: Unchanged
Recipe: Maybe allow the Drumsticks to be cooked?
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just a little quality of life suggestion to this dish.

UNAGI
Stats: +20 health, +37,5 hunger, +15 sanity (from +20 health, +18,75 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Can either use 1 Lichen, or 1 Kelp Frond for its requirements
Spoilage: Unchanged
A decent buff to give it some actual potency. Note that in the Caves, with the suggestions made to California Roll, you would be able to convert your Unagi into a California Roll by adding another Lichen, if you wish (which gives a big chunk more hunger and a bit of sanity, but less healing)

VEGETABLE STINGER
Stats: +3 health, +37,5 hunger, +33 sanity (from +3 health, +25 hunger, +33 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Just a bit more oomph so it has less hunger-detriment.

WAFFLES
Stats: +60 health, +62,5 hunger, +15 sanity (from +60 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Considering Waffles requires Butter, which is really rare, its current statgains are actually surprisingly meager. Which is why it got a bit of a buff.

WOBSTER BISQUE
Stats: +40 health, +25 hunger, +10 sanity (from +60 health, +25 hunger, +10 sanity)
Recipe: Unchanged
Spoilage: Unchanged
Personally, I find this dish too powerful. Wobsters are relatively easy to get, so I'd suggest to tone down the healing a big bunch. At least if Fishsticks gets the nerf I suggested.

And now, as a little bonus, some new recipe suggestions of my own:

Spoiler

MUSHROOM SOUP
Stats: +15 health, +15 hunger, +15 sanity
Recipe: 1 Blue Cap, 1 Red Cap, 1 Green Cap
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish, Inedibles or Moon Shroom.
Spoilage: 6 days
Special: None
Look: Well, a bowl with mushroom soup in it
Typical ingredients: 1 Blue Cap, 1 Red Cap, 1 Green Cap, 1 Ice or another Red Cap
I had this recipe in mind before the Mushy Cake got added. But hey, it could still be worth adding, no?

CHILI BITES
Stats: +1 health, +25 hunger, +25 sanity
Recipe: 1 Pepper, 2 Sweeteners
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish or Eggs
Spoilage: 15 days
Special: Increases your temperature by 1 degree per second for 15 seconds
Look: Basicly yellow-transparent caramels with bits of chili in it.
Typical ingredients: 1 Pepper, 2 Honey, 1 Twig
Suggested for multiple reasons: It gives veggie-eaters like Wurt access to a 15 second heat-boosting food item, it gives another use of the Pepper (considering the "Peppers grows during Summer"-idea), and it is the sanity-oriented version of the other major heat-boosting Crock Pot recipes (with Spicy Chili now focusing on hunger and Stuffed Pepper Poppers focusing on health).

POMEPADOUR CAKE
Stats: +3 health, +50 hunger, +50 sanity
Recipe: 1 Pomegranate, 0,5 Fruit, 1 Egg or Dairy
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish, Vegetables or Inedibles
Spoilage: 10 days
Special: None
Look: A big cake with toppings made of pomegranate bits and other fruit.
Typical ingredients: 1 Pomegranate, 1 Berry, 1 Egg or Beefalo Milk, 1 Ice
Considering that Pomegranates have no specific recipes, this is one idea for that. Also, the name is not misspelled (Pomepadour), the pun is very much intended.

MAKESHIFT NOGADAS (Probably not the best name for it, but it's close enough)
Stats: +60 health, +50 hunger, +15 sanity
Recipe: 1 Pomegranate, 1 Pepper,  1 Roasted Birchnut, 0,5 Meat
Fillers: None (requires 4 ingredients)
Spoilage: 6 days
Special: None
Look: Similar to Chiles en Nogada (a Mexican dish) which could generally be described as chilis stuffed with meat and topped with Nogada (a walnut-based sauce) and pomegranate seeds (among other things).
Typical ingredients: 1 Pomegranate, 1 Pepper, 1 Roasted Birchnut, 1 Morsel
Another Pomegranate recipe, boasting quite the statbonuses, but also very specific ingredient-requirements to go with that. It's basicly an amped up version of Stuffed Pepper Poppers, but without the temperature-bonus.

FISH AND CHIPS
Stats: +0 health, +62,5 hunger, +10 sanity
Recipe: 1 Potato, 0,5 Fish
Fillers: Cannot be Meats or Inedibles
Spoilage: 15 days
Special: None
Look: Like your typical Fish and Chips (newspaper and all?)
Typical ingredients: 1 Fish Morsel, 1 Potato, 2 Ice
Mostly as a fun dish. While it doesn't boast anything particularly special about it in its restorative stats, it has pretty good spoilage time (tied for best spoilage time with Barnacle Pita among the fish-oriented dishes). It also uniquely provides no health compared to other dishes, focusing fully on hunger and some sanity instead (as Fish and Chips aren't exactly healthy, but they are filling and generally considered tasty)

CARROT CAKE
Stats: +8 health, +37,5 hunger, +15 sanity
Recipe: 2 Carrots, 1 Egg
Fillers: Cannot be Meats or Fish
Spoilage: 15 days
Special: None
Look: Like a normal carrot cake, basicly
Typical ingredients used: 2 Carrots, 1 Egg, 1 Twig
Added as an idea, as there's no specific Carrot-dish yet. It basicly trades a tiny bit of hunger for some health and sanity using simple and easy-to-find ingredients. More of an early-game "noob" dish, really. But at least there'd be a Carrot-based dish!

DURIAN CENDOL
Stats: +0 health, +37,5 hunger, +25 sanity
Recipe: 1 Durian, 1 Ice, 1 Sweetener
Fillers: Cannot be Meats, Fish or Inedibles
Spoilage: 10 days (and 30 days in an Ice Box, instead of 20)
Special: Reduces your temperature by 1 degree per second for 15 seconds
Look: A glass with icy, green-yellow fluid (think of it as a slushie, basicly), with some bits of Durian as topping
Typical ingredients used: 1 Durian, 2 Ice, 1 Honey
Durian doesn't have a specific recipe for it, so here's a suggestion for that! While it's not particularly potent, it does make use of the Durian, an otherwise not too useful fruit, and adds another temperature-lowering dish. Also, due to its icy nature, it lasts long when stored in an ice box, so that's a good benefit too.

CHICKEN DURIAN CURRY
Stats: +10 health, +62,5 hunger, +5 sanity
Recipe: 1 Durian, 1 Drumstick (cooked ones are allowed)
Fillers: Cannot be Fish or Inedibles
Spoilage: 6 days
Special: Increases your temperature by 1 degree per second for 15 seconds
Look: More or less, a plate with chicken drumsticks, durian and a chunky sauce
Typical ingredients used: 1 Durian, 1 Drumstick, 2 Ice
Another Durian-based dish. Again, while it's not particularly potent (although a bit stronger in stats than the Durian Cendol), it does make use of the Durian, an otherwise not too useful fruit, and adds another temperature-increasing dish.

BREAKFAST CEREAL
Stats: +10 health, +37,5 hunger, +5 sanity
Recipe: 1 Corn, 1 Dairy
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish or Vegetables
Spoilage: 6 days
Special: Restores 6 hunger per minute during daylight, if consumed during the day (i.e. not during dusk/night).
Look: A bowl of cereal with milk.
Typical ingredients used: 1 Corn, 1 Beefalo Milk, 2 Twigs
Mostly suggested to add a new mechanic, playing with the daylight to make the best use of it, making it best consumed in the early morning. It also is based on the more easily accessed Dairy products via the Milking Kit suggestion.

BLUE EVENING TEA
Stats: +15 health, +18,75 hunger, +25 sanity
Recipe: 2 Lesser Glow Berry or 1 Glow Berry, 1 Ice
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish, Vegetables or Inedibles
Spoilage: 6 days
Special: Restores 6 sanity per minute during dusk and night, if consumed during the dusk or night
Look: A cup of tea, with the tea shimmering blue.
Typical ingredients used: 2 Lesser Glow Berry, 2 Ice
Playing on the same idea as the Breakfast cereal, but using the darker times of the day, and dealing with sanity instead. Also, it adds a recipe using the Glow Berries which isn't exclusive to Warly. Note that I personally like this suggestion more than the Breakfast Cereal. Would probably be a quite handy recipe to use down in the Caves.
EDIT: Well, considering Soothing Tea was added, I guess this recipe kind of lost its niche a bit. Funny how the devs had such a similar idea... Added another Glowberry (the very next one) as a different non-Warly Glowberry recipe.

GLOWBERRY PIE
Stats: +5 health, +50 hunger, +15 sanity
Recipe: 2 Lesser Glow Berry or 1 Glow Berry, 1 Sweetener
Fillers: Cannot be Meat, Fish or Vegetables
Spoilage: 15 days
Special: Causes a minimal glow on the player, similar to that when you have a fully heated Thermal Stone, for 4 minutes
Look: Like blueberry pie, but with shiny glowberries instead
Typical ingredients used: 2 Lesser Glow Berry, 1 Honey, 1 Twig
Adds a (second) recipe using the Glow Berries which isn't exclusive to Warly, which helps with light, although in a much lesser fashion than a direct glowberry consumption or Warly's dish, but unlike raw glow berries it doesn't negatively affect your stats.

CASSEROLE
Stats: +20 health, +62,5 hunger, +5 sanity
Recipe: 1,5 Meat, 1,5 Vegetables
Fillers: None available
Spoilage: 15 days
Special: Increases temperature by 1 degree per second for 5 seconds
Priority: 2 (meaning lower than Spicy Chili)
Look: Like an everyday meat-and-veggies casserole, in a rectangular or round ovenware (or whatever those ceramic "bowls/trays" are called)
Typical ingredients used: 1 Monster Meat, 1 Morsel, 1 Carrot, 1 Red Mushroom
Only suggested if the recipe for Spicy Chili is rearranged as suggested. Meant to be a "middleground" to basic Meatballs (which were heavily nerfed) and a Meaty Stew, basicly.

COLD CUTS
Stats: +1 health, +25 hunger, +10 sanity
Recipe: 1 Ice, 0,25 Meat
Fillers: Cannot be Eggs, Sweeteners or Inedibles
Spoilage: 20 days
Special: Lowers your temperature by 40 degrees over 5 seconds
Look: Like slices of meat, but with a frosty coating
Typical ingredients: 1 Morsel, 3 Ice
This would both be a nerf to some overly cheap Meatballs recipes (like Morsel/Monster meat/Barnacle + 3 Ice, but it wouldn't stop 3 mushrooms being used as filler, which I find perfectly alright), and introduces a punny meat dish which would be the first meat with a cooling effect. While it's very weak in stats, it does offer a bit of extra sanity (aside from the minor cooling effect) and has excellent spoilage time.
Removed, since I nerfed Meatballs further instead.

 

There ya go! What do you guys think about these suggestions and changes?

[Azamagon]

Changes:

Foods:
Cold Cuts - removed (clashes a bit with other food changes)
Meatballs - hunger nerfed further (50 -> 37,5), heals a bit more (3 -> 8)
Pumpkin Cookies - spoilage time buffed further (15 -> 20)
Spicy Chili - hunger buffed further (50 -> 62,5)
Stuffed Eggplant - hungerbuff reduced a bit (62,5 -> 50)
Casserole - added! Takes the old Spicy Chili recipe

Other:
Farm changes and Watering Buckets - "removed", as they were added (to a certain degree)!
Nutrient and Family farming mechanics - reworked/simplified, to make farming less complex

[Owlrust]

Personally I am of the opinion that the recipes are fine as is, but I do like some of the changes you proposed such as the California Rolls. I also think that Honey Ham and Honey Nuggets could use some love too; nothing big, just changing the required meat value for the ham from 1.75x to 1.5x meats and allowing an inedible or two for the nuggets. I have reasons for this, but I don't want to take up too much time on the subject.

[Azamagon]

19 hours ago, Owlrus said:

Personally I am of the opinion that the recipes are fine as is, but I do like some of the changes you proposed such as the California Rolls. I also think that Honey Ham and Honey Nuggets could use some love too; nothing big, just changing the required meat value for the ham from 1.75x to 1.5x meats and allowing an inedible or two for the nuggets. I have reasons for this, but I don't want to take up too much time on the subject.

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

Hmm... I feel Honey Ham is decently strong (next to Meaty Stew I guess it looks a bit weak, but that's probably more a problem with Meaty Stew than Honey Ham). But I can also see 1,5x meats for Honey Ham being ok. I'll consider it (lemme do some math on it, hehe).

Honey Nuggets being allowed a non-twig inedible (since Kabobs) is fine I guess? But I mean, it allows 2 Ice after all, you don't feel that's enough? I mean sure, Meatballs are more filling, but Honey Nuggers restore 20 health in contrast. If you do have time to explain your reasoning for this, I'd be glad to hear you out on it! Note that I did actually consider buffing their sanity restore by another 5 point, since all the survivors seem to enjoy them a lot (except Wurt ofc) - I think I'll actually do that, at least.

[Mysterious box]

Personally I feel like every crock dish should atleast have more stat than the cheapest version of all the materials combine to make it in atleast one category. That and I agree a more reliable dairy source would be nice tho i do feel it should require abit more effort.

[Azamagon]

3 hours ago, Mysterious box said:

Personally I feel like every crock dish should atleast have more stat than the cheapest version of all the materials combine to make it in atleast one category. That and I agree a more reliable dairy source would be nice tho i do feel it should require abit more effort.

Generally, yes. I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I'm personally fine with some Crock Pot recipes sacrifcing a certain stat to boost more on another (Like, for example, how Surf and Turf sacrifices hunger restoration for a huge boost in healing and sanity). But if you disregard what specific stat it adds, I did specifically try to make most Crock Pot dishes have a net positive in overall stats. Notable examples of dishes which currently has net NEGATIVE stats:

• Ceviche
• Creamy Potato Pureé
• Fruit Medley (aside from using 3 Bananas and a stick, but then it's still a very minimal gain in stats, via its healing)
• Pumpkin Cookies
• Taffy (TINY loss)

Which is why I buffed the above dishes (indirectly so for the Creamy Potato Pureé, by nerfing the base value of raw/cooked potatoes), except Taffy, as it's such an extremely simple dish, and ultra-easy to farm - and it still has a sanity-boosting niche.
Note: I didn't count Monster Lasagna (which is a penalty-dish), Mushy Cake (as its use is for the anti-sleepiness) or Powder Cake (which is a joke dish).

As for a reliable dairy source, yeah, I just dunno what the Milking Kit's recipe could be that makes it feel "just right". Too easy, and Dairy is far too easily acquired. Too hard and you'd rather just kill electrifed Volt Goats (or, as is generally done, just ignore Dairy-based meals aside from filling in the Cookbook). I was hoping the requirement of a papyrus would help it feel somewhat like that.

[wigfrids hat]

overall it seems fine to me but i feel that perhaps you haven't seen any of the conversations around farm plots or around wurt. nerfing plot foods would actually be kind of a poor idea since at their current hunger balances they are perfectly viable sources of food and make up for their heavy up-front building cost over the span of a season. making it so that they are a lot less useful to the point of requiring a crockpot to take advantage of them seems kind of backwards and further encourages people to only learn meatballs, perogis and honey ham. it also means that wurt has to eat a whole lot more to be fed and people who farm for sustenance have to depend a lot more heavily on crockpot meals to not starve. right now there is a fair advantage to putting in the effort to build an improved farm plots and a disadvantage to building a basic one with the current stats of farmed foods. your proposition would put a kibosh on both as a lot of persons trend towards the idea of only making and using the most optimized recipes which means fast and easy to obtain. by its nature that is not how farming works

 

i'm not telling you to disregard the idea but i do encourage you to consider what harm may come to the gameplay if you make it so that farming has notably less value for the average playerbase than it currently does AND on top of that adds the cost of a crockpot(something people might not use depending on their playstyle) to even start using then you might as well not have bothered with the recipes at all. this also puts new players at a greater disadvantage since some of them do not look up how to play and building all these things just to have the output be so small and unvaluable would likely prevent them from bothering to keep going and try crockpot meals(especially with wet goop being something they might get on their first couple tries)

 

oh, also outright no to the ratatouille and fistful of jam since that these are beginner and starver foods. it literally is there so that there is always something a person can eat and get a little sanity from and it makes redcaps valuable in the beginning of the game where food isnt easily obtained(and at any time on a pub where there is almost no food avalible regardless of season). doubling the number of fruit or veg required to use it is rather rubbish(also we really dont need to discourage newbies by giving them even more ways to get wet goop from their pots). please see my above comment about considering what the ramifications of these changes might be for someone who isnt yourself

 

[Azamagon]

6 hours ago, gaymime said:

overall it seems fine to me but i feel that perhaps you haven't seen any of the conversations around farm plots or around wurt. nerfing plot foods would actually be kind of a poor idea since at their current hunger balances they are perfectly viable sources of food and make up for their heavy up-front building cost over the span of a season. making it so that they are a lot less useful to the point of requiring a crockpot to take advantage of them seems kind of backwards and further encourages people to only learn meatballs, perogis and honey ham. it also means that wurt has to eat a whole lot more to be fed and people who farm for sustenance have to depend a lot more heavily on crockpot meals to not starve. right now there is a fair advantage to putting in the effort to build an improved farm plots and a disadvantage to building a basic one with the current stats of farmed foods. your proposition would put a kibosh on both as a lot of persons trend towards the idea of only making and using the most optimized recipes which means fast and easy to obtain. by its nature that is not how farming works

 

i'm not telling you to disregard the idea but i do encourage you to consider what harm may come to the gameplay if you make it so that farming has notably less value for the average playerbase than it currently does AND on top of that adds the cost of a crockpot(something people might not use depending on their playstyle) to even start using then you might as well not have bothered with the recipes at all. this also puts new players at a greater disadvantage since some of them do not look up how to play and building all these things just to have the output be so small and unvaluable would likely prevent them from bothering to keep going and try crockpot meals(especially with wet goop being something they might get on their first couple tries)

 

oh, also outright no to the ratatouille and fistful of jam since that these are beginner and starver foods. it literally is there so that there is always something a person can eat and get a little sanity from and it makes redcaps valuable in the beginning of the game where food isnt easily obtained(and at any time on a pub where there is almost no food avalible regardless of season). doubling the number of fruit or veg required to use it is rather rubbish(also we really dont need to discourage newbies by giving them even more ways to get wet goop from their pots). please see my above comment about considering what the ramifications of these changes might be for someone who isnt yourself

 

Excellent feedback!

Hmmm... very intereting. I've always made more "humble" bases, and I think (improved) farms are pretty neat actually, and I've never personally found them that hard to make. But I'm also less of a "go fight bosses" and more of a basic survivor - so my POV is probably very skewed, yes.

I do find it peculiar if people are making farms but do NOT make Crock Pots though. As I have a bit hard grasping why some raw/cooked ingredients should be more valuable than the recipes involving them (Just look at a single cooked Toma Root, Potato or Eggplant versus the entire "benefit" of the Asparagus recipe...) . And while the very lacking recipes indeed need big buffs, I didn't really wanna buff all these recipes to be sky-high either to accommodate for some very powerful ingredients, which is why I felt that (at least Potato and Toma Root, due to them being common) was better off nerfed. But again, this might be because I felt farms are fine - I'm legit a little confused if I actually went about this the wrong way here? I might take another look on Eggplants, Asparagus, Pumpking and Corn though.

I'd actually like advice on the specific changed ingredients you found most problematic (or all of them, if you want), and their involved recipes, if you could! I already have some buffs and reverts in mind - but man those Pumpkin Cookies just keep haunting me! Perhaps I can ditch one of the two honey-requirements on it?

As for Wurt - I am not too concerned about her, as I feel it'd be better if she was tweaked around these changes rather than the other way around. Like, she could get more hunger out of veggies and fruits than others, or lose hunger slower than others - either of those bonuses under certain conditions - something like that. Because imo, if most ingredients and recipes are rebalanced to feel more fair for the general group of survivors, but ONE character suffers from it, I feel it's better to tweak that character around those changes than the other way around as that is... a balancing nightmare, to say the least.

I find it interesting on the hard no on Ratatouille and FFoJ, actually. I was VERY hesitant on making the suggestions for these two recipes in the first place as I was afraid I was looking a bit too hard on the numbers (seeing that ultra-efficient Ratatouille and FFoJ recipes actually matched with Meaty Stew in terms of hunger-gain per fooditem!). And I was not concerned about the noobs making wet goop actually, because I thought of them being more likely to use 4 berries to make an inefficient FFoJ, but I forgot that some people probably mix veggies and fruits willynilly, so getting wet goop from that is indeed probably far more likely to occur due to my suggestions here. The curse of knowledge, and all that. I think I'll remove those 2 recipe changes, your thought on that was very helpful!

EDIT: A thought that struck me - Why not just make farms better instead (and keep my changes)? Like, if you plant a seed, you might get not just one - but a big chance for TWO of the same plant when they are fully grown? That way, the proposed nerfs would still allow for each individual item to be balanced more properly, while still ALSO making farms more worthwhile at the same time (in fact, then the proposed nerfs would even make more sense as to not make farms too GOOD).

To expand on that idea; The chance for two plants to spawn could scale with its fertilization state. Like, if it's a fresh farm? Then 100% chance for double growth. If it's reaching its end in fertilization (like when it can just grow one more plant before it needs some fertilizer to keep working), and/or if it's too warm during summer and not hydrated with Ice Flingomatics (or hydrated with a new item idea I just got -> A simple watering bucket!) - then chances are much lower for the double spawn to occur, like, as low as 10% or something.

How does that sound?

[wigfrids hat]

well, i cannot speak for everyone but sometimes there isnt a lot of room to work with and sometimes if you are on a world with an altered avalibility of resources. personally i dont always make them together when i am on a time crunch and while i ALWAYS have a farmplot on any boat i am going to be sailing on for more than a couple days i dont always see a great benefit in making a crockpot right away. it is something that can be put off until there is more time or more resources available since carrots and corn are plentiful and totally worth 1 seed + 2 manures/guano(or 8 rot if you are desperate or the world is a bit old and you have stacks). only wigfrid and warly cannot take advantage of food at one's leisure and while i must confess i dont play either of those characters it does seem a shame to make things harder on the other 12, you know?

i think it isnt really a matter of raising the cooked foods super high or nerfing raws to the ground but instead making the recipes that use raw veg not a matter of min-max number-crunching. it has been said a lot and i agree that it makes sense that a recipe should be worth as much as the sum of its parts OR have some benefit that excuses the loss. honestly i see the crockpot as a great way to give sanity to players and i rather like the idea of changing the base sanity gain from 5 to somewhere between 7 and 10 and giving all non-meta +sanity or sanity-neutral dishes a small buff. if being away from the world is contributing to the loss of self that the player feels then crockpots should 100% be something that brings them more sanity. it is in effect a literal taste of civilization

as for actual farmplots themselves? the improved farms are actually quite fine and in their current state they are balanced but it doesnt take much to tip them over the wrong way into not being worth the effort and as it stands being "fair" is already so unbearable to many players that there is regular outcry for farms to be improved to the point of being woefully op. sadly this cannot much be worked with when the margin of error is so small

oh! well i am sure i am not the right person to ask since i am a casual player with no competitive-play aspirations but i certainly dislike asparagus soup, dragonpie, leafy meatloaf(despite loving the look to the point of naming my steam account after it), taffy and pierogies. asparagus soup really would benefit from having half the health gain moved to hunger since raw/cooked asparagus is hunger-focused and not health focused and asparagus soup has a pretty high priority when you do not add meat or ice so it becomes one of the unwanted 'mistake' foods when you are low on food options and hunger is something you need filled. its unusual swapping make it much more beneficial as a consumable than it could be as an ingredient while keeping it a hunger food would keep it more neutrally aligned. dragon pie is legit just op for what it is made from and might do well to need some other farm-exclusive ingredient to make in the same way salsa and puree do. leafy loaf should have a stupid spoil time, 20 is ok but it is soooo close to being a good cave food and i think another 15 days would be the thing that would elevate it to the station its sister foods sit at, heck if i wanted to be cute though and make it more like real aspics then i'd also reduce the edibility to about 30 and put the health at 0 since irl aspics are mostly inedible rubbish that require a lot more skill than most cooks have to make it edible instead of just pretty). taffy is outclassed by other foods so it just feels like it is there so wigfrid can have a solid sanity food, well before leafy meats came in and stole the show, lol. pierogies are just something i don't like. the lack of milk in them bothers the cook in me, the ease in which they are made and used as THE meta food bothers me, the fact that that one song keeps playing every time i think about pierogies for more than a couple minutes bothers me. i have no good reason for disliking them but by golly it would make me a little less crazy if they required milk instead of meat AND milk was a more plentiful drop so that pierogies were not a gated food like waffles(their food value is just not worth it and it would make them not-as-good waffles). truthfully though i dont feel i am qualified to make these suggestions though. i know what doesnt work but knowing what doesnt work doesnt actually equaling out to knowing what does, you know?

wurt already does get a bonus from veggies. she is just perfectly balanced around the current state of veg production in fact

yeah, mixing fruit and veg is something you see a lot of though you are right some people go right for that +4 berries mix x''D i had to watch my husband fumble around the crockpot for much longer than i was comfortable with(in the end i had to leave the room so as not to kill his interest in the game with my nannying) and i also admin in a pub for beginners who have access to farmplots and fertilizers right from the start so i see a lot of this sort of thing(and in random pubs i also somewhat regularly see abandoned pots of goop or goop on the ground near catcoon-less camps)

i think if a plot buff happened it should replace the beginner plots and have a mid-game requirement(like say an under-utilized boss drop) so that it isnt just an issue of power-creep but instead is a reward for playing the game well. you wouldnt need to nerf veg at that point either since it isnt something a novice would have easy access to anyway and a more experienced player wouldnt be doing it to survive they'd be doing it to thrive(just the same as any automated or low-interaction farm). that being said i am not sure the developers would be keen on having a farmplot that is super strong even if it is skill-gated

nix on the watering bucket though. wouldnt mind if the bonus for an advanced farm is imperiousness to cooking in the summer though, that and a 50% double harvest would be something i would quickly get behind(which is probably the greed talking since i can feed myself and two other players easily on a regular improved farm plot during the autumn and spring seasons)

 

[AileTheAlien]

On 11/8/2020 at 5:12 PM, Azamagon said:

Nutrient mechanic. I feel this is [...] unnecessary

I'm pretty sure the nutrient mechanic is to encourage players to experiment with crop rotation. The current nutrient inputs and outputs of each crop, and the current growable seasons for each crop lets players balance crops out with other crops. Only having a single fertilizerlike the old system, only allows for one playstyle - extractive farming with external repleneshment. The new system allows for this playstyle, for players who don't know or don't care about the different nutrients and balances. I don't know how much you need to change each set of crops in each season, but there would seem to be room there for tweaking the actual values of the different crops, before gutting the system entirely, and removing different playstyles from the game.

As for the different recipes in the game - how much variation is there in the efficiencies of these? If every recipe's perfectly balanced with other recipes, considering the different ingredients, then there's no reason to care which ones you choose. Also, I'd echo what was said earlier, about basing meals around their most efficient recipes - players can see how much food they're gaining per carrot, berry or whatever, and having most recipes worth less than their ingredients will make most players think the system is broken, not that there's extra-clever secret recipes to find, that are better to use. Meals need to be based around what a likely recipe is, for new or experienced players, with the extra-efficient ones being bonuses for exploring the game and mechanics.

[Azamagon]

On 1/20/2021 at 5:36 AM, AileTheAlien said:

I'm pretty sure the nutrient mechanic is to encourage players to experiment with crop rotation. The current nutrient inputs and outputs of each crop, and the current growable seasons for each crop lets players balance crops out with other crops. Only having a single fertilizerlike the old system, only allows for one playstyle - extractive farming with external repleneshment. The new system allows for this playstyle, for players who don't know or don't care about the different nutrients and balances. I don't know how much you need to change each set of crops in each season, but there would seem to be room there for tweaking the actual values of the different crops, before gutting the system entirely, and removing different playstyles from the game.

As for the different recipes in the game - how much variation is there in the efficiencies of these? If every recipe's perfectly balanced with other recipes, considering the different ingredients, then there's no reason to care which ones you choose. Also, I'd echo what was said earlier, about basing meals around their most efficient recipes - players can see how much food they're gaining per carrot, berry or whatever, and having most recipes worth less than their ingredients will make most players think the system is broken, not that there's extra-clever secret recipes to find, that are better to use. Meals need to be based around what a likely recipe is, for new or experienced players, with the extra-efficient ones being bonuses for exploring the game and mechanics.

Nutrient - While I can see the crop-rotation arguement being sound, I still feel it is an unnecessarily complex mechanic for it. If there was some other way to encourage the crop rotation, that'd be great.

Recipes - I just wanna clear up a point here: There's still quite an imbalance between the most/least efficient recipes even after my suggestions - having a "perfect" balance is both impossible and a pointless endeavour - so you should still be careful what to choose. But I feel that having recipes that are mostly detrimental (Liike current Asparagus Soup and Ceviche, to name a few) - aside from the obvious "bad recipes" (i.e. Monster Lasagna, Wet Goop and Powder Cake) - should be avoided as much as possible.

The "choosing with care" I feel shouldn't be as much about getting a good or bad outcome (aside from avoiding the above mentioned bad recipes), but more about what stats you want to gain. If you are gonna need Sanity, making/eating Meat Stew would not be as wise as making Jerky.

About the less efficient recipes, this is already the case with Ratatouille (which just needs 0,5 veggies) and Fist Full of Jam (which just needs 0,5 Fruits). You generally lose out on value when making these recipes - because they are so ridiculously easy to make, so you need to leanr how to make these efficiently. It teacthes you to not use food wastefully. I don't see an issue with that. But then you have Meatballs, another beginner-level food (only needing 0,25 Meat value) which for some reason is excempt from this, allowing pretty bad recipes (like Morsel + 3 berries) to STILL gain something out of it - and I don't agreed with that, Meatballs should be on a similar level to the other "noob" recipes.

And as for this part:

Quote

Meals need to be based around what a likely recipe is, for new or experienced players, with the extra-efficient ones being bonuses for exploring the game and mechanics.

If this^ is to be balanced around, expect to have Meatballs, Ratatouille and Fist Full of Jam require WAY more ingredients, and their current effecient recipes instead result in Wet Goop - either that, or if everything became "Meatballs"-levels of potential efficiency, it would make Crock Pots far, far, FAR too easy - and would be even worse in regards to your fear of "then we don't to think about what to put in", moreso than I've proposed.