Food Creation Options

[Timmmy]

I had originally being tempted to post most of this in the "Food,Farming and Cooking" thread but thought it would have been topic hijacking.

Basically this thread is to see which way is the best way for food to be created from growth,processing and final maufacture into something edible.

1:My main and favorite idea for food is to make it realistic creation.That is you do not pick a ham sandwich off a pig!Instead,very much simplified:

FARMING:
Growth
-Crops/animals raised to maturity.
-Breeding?Would have to be designed so as to not cause 'offence'.
-Could allow for certain breeds being of better quality etc.
-Farmers benefit from trappers bringing in strange animals/crops and trying to raise them.

Processing
-Crops/animals split into useful components eg meat for food,hide for tanner and fat for torches.
-Hunted animals also find way to manufacturers.
-Better skilled would benefit from lower waste thus higher production and also ability to

Manufacture
-Use of manufactered items to create food stuffs useful to players.
-Manufacturers will have to take into account their customers for example humans may not be able to digest dwarf bread while greenskins love meaty meals.
-Have a variety of disciplines:Baking/steaming/combining/cooking/raw food preparation etc.

HUNTING/TRAPPING
-Hunters prey can be used by manufacturers.
-Faster access to food but also more dangerous.
-Can be rewarding or unrewarding depending on seasons/skill/animals habits etc).
-Have the ability to set traps to kill animals although chance traps may be stolen/useless if incorrectly used.
-Trappers can set both deadly and non deadly traps.(Note can also set 'PC Traps').
-Trappers good with vegetation too,can collect herbs,vegetables etc to sell to growers.

OTHER FORMS OF FOOD COLLECTION
-Fishermen(Rods,nets etc)
-Whalers
-Eggs(bird,lizard etc)
-Foraging and Botanising(plants/trees etc in nature)
etc

2:Easy food.Simplified food if PW decides to be more of a combat than crafting game.-A killed animal leaves some form of food which can be made directly into food.
-Food can be taken directly from bushes/trees/plants etc
-No farming process,food items are simply recovered by PC who can then eat as is or after a very limited treatment eat as some form of meal.

This post has been edited by Timmmy: Dec 13 2006, 11:28 PM

[Dwilf]

Option 1 goes better with my ideas

Again these ideas will have impacts throughout the design of many game systems.

I hope combat does not take up the largest portion of PW's content and that crafting, exploring, social and any other type of skills are all equally catered for in quantity and quality. (with a large nod towards encouraging RP over munchkins )

Whalers, interesting addition, very nice potential if we had ocean going craft, multiple continents and a bunch of skills to go with life at sea at some point in the future.

I like idea 1 a lot. Fits well with talk of a decent economy.
Wheat farm -> Mill -> Bakers -> Consumers
With seasons people with some foresight will put some produce into storage so the population doesn't starve in winter or if crops fail. A GM ran event based entirely on an economic mis-hap that would create a lot of non-combat 'quests' would be very cool.

I'm rambling a bit here so I'll stop
Keep the ideas coming.

[greendots]

I'd really like have this depth in foods. Its definatly something that people will appreciate when they play the game and keep them interested. I dont think by adding these types of details to the game it will take anything from the combat aspect of the game.

[Maxwell]

I agree with greendot. This is a wonderful Idea. It can keep people interacting with each other through out the game. One hand helps another theory.

[Timmmy]

You brought up the idea of economy Dwilf and system 1 opens up a whole new area of warfare in relation to economy.If you wish to hurt your rivals town but can not confront it directly you can always attack its assets.In this case you may attack their farms etc not so much to instantly starve a town which may be a little silly but to force the town to import food at a high expense(caravans/guards,supply vs demand).As such it supports far more options for trading,caravan(land and sea)activity,raiding and pillaging,town vs town(village/guild/NPC etc)and spontaneous quest generation.

The Spontaneous quest generation in particular is a major benefit.Pillaging a town will find oppurtunities arise for rebuilders(craftsmen(carpenters/masons etc),suppliers(lumberjacks/miners etc),guards etc while also having town food needs rise.Thus some form of automated quests to help deal with demand could be activated by thos affected.For example farmer places building deed,in town centre deed is listed as a job to be completed(under constructions)and the necessary skilled PCs can carry out the work.

The system could be designed so a placed building costs so much of which a certain perecent is labouring and materials cost.As certain points are reached(5 logs delivered to site by Jim,5 logs attached to house by Tom)the related part of cost of deed is paid to labourers.In this way if farmer was also a labourer and resource collector they would reclaim some of the price of deed by making it themselves.However in the main this will help to draw communities together,provide an easy site for crafters and resource collectors to find work and create the feeling of a living town.

So effectively through proper food creation technique(1) all key elements of the game could be influenced in what I hope is a very useful,involving and yet enjoyable way.Also very environmental style buildings(mills/butchers/farms)will actually be active parts of a commmunity as opposed to mere graphics.Now I cant wait to see what people come up with for the agriculture of other races!

Sorry for going somewhat off topic trying to show spread of this system!

[Jerky]

War of attrition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attrition_warfare

[ni1s]

Awesome ideas, I love details like this.