More Food Options

[isthisworkingnow]

Here are two ideas I've had for new foods which I think should be added to the game:

Firstly: Potatoes

For a while I've wanted a vegetable in the game which isn't grown on bushes like berries or juicy berries but also isn't like a farm (which takes a long time and doesn't give much). You make potato seeds out of 1 carrot or birchnut (I'm not sure yet, maybe both?) + 1 cave lichen.

It takes longer than berries to grow but shorter than farms and gives you two potato seeds back these can be cooked (over an endothermic fire) or refined (I haven't decided which) and it is then edible.

They would work in the same way as birchnut seeds because they would spoil if not planted quick enough. They would either be planted in something like the mushroom planter but doesn't cost as much or on a specific turf.

Also a new recipe would be added to the crockpot: Sausage and Mash it would require 1.5 meat and 2 potatoes and give you back the same amount of sanity as it does hunger.

Secondly: A food which is either pickable  or droppable by trees.

It would be like the birchnut but drop like twigs from twiggy trees or be pickable like a bush. This idea isn't as in depth as the potatoes but I thought it was quite a nice concept

 

Please leave any suggestions because these ideas are no way as good as they could be also I'm horrible at spelling so please just ignore any mistakes I may have made.

[Ecu]

I don't generally even make normal farms.  It is almost always preferable to make the advanced farms and with fertilizer, they don't take long to grow.  I wouldn't be opposed to Potatoes as another farm crop, but to be completely honest a lot of the existing food products aren't really needed much.  To better explain what I mean, you can get meat and monster meat quite easily (a boomerang will let you harvest quite a few birds/bunnies).  You can also get a bird quickly (really quick with Wickerbottom).  With 1 monster meat, 1 other meat of any type, and two eggs (gotten by feeding a bird cooked monster meat), you can make breakfast which heals and fills quite a bit of hunger.

At the end of the day, I don't really see anything wrong with adding more food options...but I think it would be good to overhaul the food system in general to make a variety of food items more desirable.

[Arlesienne]

I agree with @Ecu. I'm more of a semi-nomad. While I make many drying racks, I don't bother with giant farms (if any at all). I enjoy picking "wild" vegetables and fruit. What breaks immersion is that if you don't farm, you actually only have carrots and berries - hardly realistic. I could see quite a bit of room for expansion a la the mods like Pickle It or Camp Cuisine.

[Quoth143]

Maybe an apple could drop from trees.

[minespatch]

Where did the potato cup even come from if... The potato isn't native to the island?

[isthisworkingnow]

4 hours ago, Ecu said:

I don't generally even make normal farms.  It is almost always preferable to make the advanced farms and with fertilizer, they don't take long to grow.  I wouldn't be opposed to Potatoes as another farm crop, but to be completely honest a lot of the existing food products aren't really needed much.  To better explain what I mean, you can get meat and monster meat quite easily (a boomerang will let you harvest quite a few birds/bunnies).  You can also get a bird quickly (really quick with Wickerbottom).  With 1 monster meat, 1 other meat of any type, and two eggs (gotten by feeding a bird cooked monster meat), you can make breakfast which heals and fills quite a bit of hunger.

At the end of the day, I don't really see anything wrong with adding more food options...but I think it would be good to overhaul the food system in general to make a variety of food items more desirable.

 

4 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

I agree with @Ecu. I'm more of a semi-nomad. While I make many drying racks, I don't bother with giant farms (if any at all). I enjoy picking "wild" vegetables and fruit. What breaks immersion is that if you don't farm, you actually only have carrots and berries - hardly realistic. I could see quite a bit of room for expansion a la the mods like Pickle It or Camp Cuisine.

I love the idea of having potatoes in the game but I feel as though they wouldn't fit with farms and because of the characters I like to play (Wolfagang) I need a reliable source of food which I feel cannot be achieved through farms (due to their inconsistency) and berry bushes (just because of the sheer amount required) 

[isthisworkingnow]

1 hour ago, Quoth143 said:

Maybe an apple could drop from trees.

I thought about this however (in real life) apple trees take a long time to grow and only give you apples once per year plus birch nuts are already in the game so I thought something similar would be more fitting

[Vargling]

1 hour ago, minespatch said:

Where did the potato cup even come from if... The potato isn't native to the island?

The real reason to go to Shipwrecked: Potatoes for Potato Cups.

 

It's TROPICAL.

[Ecu]

7 minutes ago, isthisworkingnow said:

I love the idea of having potatoes in the game but I feel as though they wouldn't fit with farms and because of the characters I like to play (Wolfagang) I need a reliable source of food which I feel cannot be achieved through farms (due to their inconsistency) and berry bushes (just because of the sheer amount required) 

My roommate plays Wolfgang decently often and he doesn't even use base food.  He tends to use pig meat quite a bit, as well as mushrooms.  Generally speaking, he usually tries to get a belt of hunger as soon as he can.

If you are playing solo, I would recommend the breakfast I described above.  It is easy to kill spiders as full Wolfgang and getting a bird for your base is also quite easy.  In addition, farms are still actually quite good for Wolfgang as Dragonpies actually give 75 hunger and once you get a few farms with them (and a bird), you can stockpile seeds to keep growing them.  Which ends up being on par with breakfast and a whole lot less work to acquire (needing only 1 Dragon Fruit and 3 Sticks).

[isthisworkingnow]

3 minutes ago, Ecu said:

My roommate plays Wolfgang decently often and he doesn't even use base food.  He tends to use pig meat quite a bit, as well as mushrooms.  Generally speaking, he usually tries to get a belt of hunger as soon as he can.

If you are playing solo, I would recommend the breakfast I described above.  It is easy to kill spiders as full Wolfgang and getting a bird for your base is also quite easy.  In addition, farms are still actually quite good for Wolfgang as Dragonpies actually give 75 hunger and once you get a few farms with them (and a bird), you can stockpile seeds to keep growing them.  Which ends up being on par with breakfast and a whole lot less work to acquire (needing only 1 Dragon Fruit and 3 Sticks).

Most of the time I do play solo because I don't like going on random servers but it takes a while to get a full Dragon Fruit farm up and running so potatoes would be good as a middle ground while setting up

[Arlesienne]

1 minute ago, isthisworkingnow said:

I thought about this however (in real life) apple trees take a long time to grow and only give you apples once per year plus birch nuts are already in the game so I thought something similar would be more fitting

An apple orchard could be like marble shrubs (be aware some varieties do bear fruit more often). I'd suggest chestnuts, actually - a chestnut tree could have some fun minibosses (hurling chestnuts?) and possibly even new kinds of armour and weapons (chestnut morgensterns, anyone?).

Following the tradition of cheesy blending, I would call it... a CHESSnut tree!

Just now, isthisworkingnow said:

I love the idea of having potatoes in the game but I feel as though they wouldn't fit with farms and because of the characters I like to play (Wolfagang) I need a reliable source of food which I feel cannot be achieved through farms (due to their inconsistency) and berry bushes (just because of the sheer amount required) 

I agree. Generally hunting tends to be more reliable, surprisingly (just monitoring the swamp gives you food galore if you catch a bird, then there are moleworms, so easy to bait, and gobblers... Pickle It already has wild potatoes, which you can start planting on farms, so I don't think potatoes are a priority. But things like wild onions could be fun.

And tomatoes. Not because they make sense given the climate (they fairly don't), BECAUSE I FRIGGIN' LOVE THEM!!!

[isthisworkingnow]

3 minutes ago, Arlesienne said:

An apple orchard could be like marble shrubs (be aware some varieties do bear fruit more often). I'd suggest chestnuts, actually - a chestnut tree could have some fun minibosses (hurling chestnuts?) and possibly even new kinds of armour and weapons (chestnut morgensterns, anyone?).

Following the tradition of cheesy blending, I would call it... a CHESSnut tree!

I agree. Generally hunting tends to be more reliable, surprisingly (just monitoring the swamp gives you food galore if you catch a bird, then there are moleworms, so easy to bait, and gobblers... Pickle It already has wild potatoes, which you can start planting on farms, so I don't think potatoes are a priority. But things like wild onions could be fun.

And tomatoes. Not because they make sense given the climate (they fairly don't), BECAUSE I FRIGGIN' LOVE THEM!!!

A CHESSnut tree?! It sounds glorious!

 

Also I don't want to have to spend days hunting when I could be doing other things 

*cough* taming beefalo *cough* fighting off insanity *cough*

[Ecu]

16 minutes ago, isthisworkingnow said:

Most of the time I do play solo because I don't like going on random servers but it takes a while to get a full Dragon Fruit farm up and running so potatoes would be good as a middle ground while setting up

As I said at the beginning, I don't really feel wrong about adding another food item...though I think these would essentially be like DS:SW's sweet potatoes.  If so, what do they really bring to the table that random carrots don't?  I am not really sure I would suggest adding potatoes like we have berries, in that it is a replantable plant that generates food.  I wouldn't mind potatoes as another carrot, essentially.  Maybe onions or various other lil one time collectables like that.

That all said...I don't think they are needed and really could make the food aspect of the game even easier than it already is.  I suppose I could see adding a tree that has some form of fruit maybe, taking longer to regrow than a bush, but providing another stable food source once replanted.

One thing about my thoughts on things like this in DST is that we really already have so much content that just isn't used, strictly because either it is too cumbersome to use, or there is better stuff that is still easy to acquire.  I gave an example in this thread of this, actually...when I mentioned not using basic farms.  So for things like this, I would recommend overhauling what we have now before adding new (or when adding new).

To spitball a very basic concept of what I mean by overhaul...currently we have a lot of recipes that take anything extra to make.  If we add more food items, it just inflates the issue of other items being pointless.  So I'd suggest that we restrict recipes and make them more specific, maybe even requiring prior food items to achieve them.  Say add a vegetable soup with a potato, a carrot, and two fillers.  You then change the meaty stew recipe to be two vegetable soups, and two meat.  This would reduce the meat cost of the meal, but increase the complexity to make it and give stronger purpose to specific food items.

Of course you would have to really restructure the food system so that different food items focused on different things, or you would end up with similar design issues as those that exist currently, where you can get bees and some pig houses and have awesome healing food forever.

[isthisworkingnow]

8 minutes ago, Ecu said:

As I said at the beginning, I don't really feel wrong about adding another food item...though I think these would essentially be like DS:SW's sweet potatoes.  If so, what do they really bring to the table that random carrots don't?  I am not really sure I would suggest adding potatoes like we have berries, in that it is a replantable plant that generates food.  I wouldn't mind potatoes as another carrot, essentially.  Maybe onions or various other lil one time collectables like that.

That all said...I don't think they are needed and really could make the food aspect of the game even easier than it already is.  I suppose I could see adding a tree that has some form of fruit maybe, taking longer to regrow than a bush, but providing another stable food source once replanted.

One thing about my thoughts on things like this in DST is that we really already have so much content that just isn't used, strictly because either it is too cumbersome to use, or there is better stuff that is still easy to acquire.  I gave an example in this thread of this, actually...when I mentioned not using basic farms.  So for things like this, I would recommend overhauling what we have now before adding new (or when adding new).

To spitball a very basic concept of what I mean by overhaul...currently we have a lot of recipes that take anything extra to make.  If we add more food items, it just inflates the issue of other items being pointless.  So I'd suggest that we restrict recipes and make them more specific, maybe even requiring prior food items to achieve them.  Say add a vegetable soup with a potato, a carrot, and two fillers.  You then change the meaty stew recipe to be two vegetable soups, and two meat.  This would reduce the meat cost of the meal, but increase the complexity to make it and give stronger purpose to specific food items.

Of course you would have to really restructure the food system so that different food items focused on different things, or you would end up with similar design issues as those that exist currently, where you can get bees and some pig houses and have awesome healing food forever.

Personally I don't like carrots because they are random and can't be replanted to produce more so adding potatoes as a reskin of them I don't really like. 

I feel as though potatoes should be added because they are so basic it is surprising they are not in the game to begin with. So possibly they could be added as a food source which can only be grown in or quicker in the caves? It doesn't make much sense really but personally I want a sustainable vegetable which doesn't need to be grown in farms that isn't berries

[Ecu]

1 minute ago, isthisworkingnow said:

Personally I don't like carrots because they are random and can't be replanted to produce more so adding potatoes as a reskin of them I don't really like. 

I feel as though potatoes should be added because they are so basic it is surprising they are not in the game to begin with. So possibly they could be added as a food source which can only be grown in or quicker in the caves? It doesn't make much sense really but personally I want a sustainable vegetable which doesn't need to be grown in farms that isn't berries

I think doing this kind of misses the point of farming.  In DST, farming is how you replenish vegetables.  That is exactly what the farming mechanic is for.  Sure you can get dragon fruit as well, and it is definitely superior, but that's left to chance (same with pumpkins).  It is quite easy to build a few farms and a birdcage and turn some initially farmed carrots into seeds.  If I really worked at it, I'm sure I could get a decent amount of vegetables grown before winter this way.  However, to be completely honest, why not just kill spiders and pigs for food?  You get four monster meat to feed to pigs and werepigs are easier to kill and drop better loot.

Use this method to get a few pig huts up near your base and you're set.

Adding another berry-like plant is not something I really think would be all that beneficial to gameplay.

[isthisworkingnow]

4 minutes ago, Ecu said:

I think doing this kind of misses the point of farming.  In DST, farming is how you replenish vegetables.  That is exactly what the farming mechanic is for.  Sure you can get dragon fruit as well, and it is definitely superior, but that's left to chance (same with pumpkins).  It is quite easy to build a few farms and a birdcage and turn some initially farmed carrots into seeds.  If I really worked at it, I'm sure I could get a decent amount of vegetables grown before winter this way.  However, to be completely honest, why not just kill spiders and pigs for food?  You get four monster meat to feed to pigs and werepigs are easier to kill and drop better loot.

Use this method to get a few pig huts up near your base and you're set.

Adding another berry-like plant is not something I really think would be all that beneficial to gameplay.

At this point you have completely destroyed all my hope (in terms of practical usage) but I still want them in the game because potatoes are just something that should be added

[Arlesienne]

28 minutes ago, isthisworkingnow said:

At this point you have completely destroyed all my hope (in terms of practical usage) but I still want them in the game because potatoes are just something that should be added

Chessnuts for the lulz (my childhood had these chestnut figurines from chestnuts and twigs, with chestnut helmets and armour...), potatoes as a rare foodstuff (think butter) for chips :)?

[Ecu]

31 minutes ago, isthisworkingnow said:

At this point you have completely destroyed all my hope (in terms of practical usage) but I still want them in the game because potatoes are just something that should be added

Not super opposed to another carrot-like potato being added.  Be just another farmable vegetable, that you can find scattered about.  DS:SW had sweet potatoes, so I don't see why regular potatoes couldn't exist in a similar fashion.  Not quite what you want, but really the only way I could see it really making sense in DST.