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Starvation & nutrition, long term effects.


deprav

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Just had an idea to bring the nutrition/hunger system one step closer from realism, as it would make it a "long-term" thing instead of the actual instant bonus/penalty.

Right now it's like an invisible bar running down as time passes, and you fill it by eating stuff ; your "hungry" moodlet depends on your position on that bar, means if you're close to death and eat a huge meal you'll suddenly be all pumped up and fresh again.

What about making it an average of the last X days (lets say 7 for the exemple) ? Lets say you have to eat 60 hunger points (arbitrary value, should probably be a bit less) each day, it's like the basis on which all the bonuses and penalties will be calculated.
Then maths :

If you eat 60 points each day for 7 days, you're at "100%", no penalty, no bonus, you're healthy.
the day after, you have a food shortage, you only eat for 5 points.
So that's 60*6+5= 365     ;          365/7 = 52.14       ;   52*(100/60) = 86.6
>You're at 86% of the ideal average nutrition level.

You only find a bag of chips to eat for the whole next day, that's 15 points.
60*5+5+15=320               ;          320/7 = 45.7         ;   45*(100/60) = 75
>You're at 75% of the ideal average nutrition level.
etc...

Every time you pass under a 10% stage (90%, 80%, 70% etc...) your penalty gets worst.
exemples :
under 90%, exerted faster
under 80%, exerted faster, strenght penalty
under 70%, exerted faster+, strenght penalty 
under 60%, exerted faster+, strenght penalty+
under 50%, exerted faster++, strenght penalty++
under 40%, exerted faster+++, strenght penalty++
under 30% exerted faster +++, strenght penalty+++
under 20% exerted faster ++++, strenght penalty ++++
under 10% exerted faster +++++, strenght penalty+++++
0% ...... dead (which means you'd have to eat nothing at all for 7 straight days to die of starvation, in that exemple)

Maybe even a health penalty, since we're weaker to face injuries & sickness when we're starving. It could be actually cool if your health % was the same as your nutrition/hunger average %.


On the other hand, if you're lucky enough to eat at your fill or even more :

You get "mood" and health bonuses when you go above 110%, 120%, 130% etc... in that case, even a slight strenght bonus might actually make sense compared to the actual insta strenght boost you have for a few hours just after you ate. But very subtle, not above +2 "carry unit" & slight damage boost at the maximum bonus. But I think I'd still personally prefer no strenght bonus at all, I don't know... because that would be an actually well deserved bonus.


Also, the lower your nutrition average is, the more depressed you are, also gets some moar sadness penalty if you eat under 50% of the daily amount of food you need (60 in the exemple)

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I like the idea but it I wouldn't place it on the top of the list :). But surely later it would be a nice addition to the game. It would be nice if the perks tied to eating would effect the day count maybe? Or you could even make new perks which would reduce the penalties slightly.

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One problem. You said bonus for over eating? Nope, don't want that. The rest is okay. But you should be penalized for over eating too. I think that makes sense. Getting fat and happy doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be effective at surviving. In fact, that would impede survival, right? But other than that tiny little bit I totally agree.

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I like the idea but a 10% deficit is very harsh. Also, would be difficult to implement into the game smoothly in its current state I would imagine.

Well, depends on how harsh the penalty is when you go under those first 10% ^^

Like the exertion & strenght penalties could be very small for the first 10~20% and get harsher under that.

 

 

I like the idea but it I wouldn't place it on the top of the list :). But surely later it would be a nice addition to the game. It would be nice if the perks tied to eating would effect the day count maybe? Or you could even make new perks which would reduce the penalties slightly.

Héhé, I know devs wanted to change nutrition big time since the actual one doesn't make much sense, but I don't know where it sits on their "To do" list.

Also, I had in mind that light eather & hearty appetite would only change the amount of daily "food points" you need :

Light eater, 45/day < no trait, 60/day < hearty appetite, 75/day

 

 

One problem. You said bonus for over eating? Nope, don't want that. The rest is okay. But you should be penalized for over eating too. I think that makes sense. Getting fat and happy doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be effective at surviving. In fact, that would impede survival, right? But other than that tiny little bit I totally agree.

 

Well, I had in mind that 100% is not your physical "eating limit", it would be like the minimal "daily need" for your body to keep on going without losing strenght, it means going above 100% wouldn't be unhealthy. Being somewhere inbetween 110% to 150% would give you very small bonuses (mood, health, MAYBE strenght) and going over 150% would be over eating, you'd start putting on some weight, losing your previous health bonus (and strenght, MAYBE), and exertion penalties if you keep going up.

Also, had in mind that if you eat wayyyy too much in one single time (like a huge -118 hunger fish you just caught), you'd get in slighlty sick, in pain, and sleepy.

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I like the idea but i feel over eating should have a small penalty as well. If you eat six hams in a row you should become stuffed or nauseous because you are so much. It could make you slower, you would become tired faster, and possibly a little bit weaker because you ate a ton of food. It wouldn't be to harsh but if you reach over like 150 or higher im pretty sure you have had to much.

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  • 2 months later...

Another simple solution to overeating: make it so you can't. Just like you cannot sleep if you are not tired, you can't eat once you hit your max. You are just too full.

I'd rather not have to micromanage my character's eating practices and worry about getting fat (a laughable concept in the apocalypse). Let me eat up to the max and let me decide if I should ration or not.

Otherwise, this idea is fantastic. I like the slow decline in abilities and penalties for going hungry. Gives you some "wiggle room" if things are desperate but punishes you for failing to secure food sources.

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Another simple solution to overeating: make it so you can't. Just like you cannot sleep if you are not tired, you can't eat once you hit your max. You are just too full.

I'd rather not have to micromanage my character's eating practices and worry about getting fat (a laughable concept in the apocalypse). Let me eat up to the max and let me decide if I should ration or not.

 

I like the idea of overeating being impossible, it makes things simple and clear. There could still be a "bonus zone" inbetween 100% and 120~130%, and eating above that point would just be wasting food.

 

 

 

Otherwise, this idea is fantastic. I like the slow decline in abilities and penalties for going hungry. Gives you some "wiggle room" if things are desperate but punishes you for failing to secure food sources.

 

thanks :3

And yes exactly ! Dying from starvation would be slightly less likely, but the consequences of starvation would impact much more the way we play since the physical & moral penalties would last for longer periods of time and be way harder to "cure". Like players could end up strongly depressed and very weak for many weeks/months, which is very likely to get them killed as it would render any situation they have to face way harder.

It would be more of a deminishing factor than a killer factor. Weak people roaming around the map, desperatly looking for any kind of food and a source of water etc...

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