Farming/Cooking ideas

[gannok]

Hey there guys. I've been playing the game for a little while, which I have enjoyed, and I had some ideas about improvements to the food system in general.

 

1. Seeds

So far, the only way to grow crops is to find a packet of seeds, dig a hole, plant the seeds, and water/maintain them until they can be picked. A fine system. However, I think there should be more to it. Because the power goes out in a few days, that means in a short amount of time, there will be veggies you will never see again because they rot.

 

I think you should be able to harvest seeds from vegetables.

 

Now of course not all the veggies in game will be harvestable (well, I don't see any seeds in this cabbage?). So in those instances, it'll be fine to not be able to harvest them for seeds. But things like tomatoes, bell peppers, and corn are obvious.

 

Also, they could add fruit bearing trees, such as apples and oranges.

 

 

2. More food preservation

So when the power goes out, your fruits and veggies go bad fast. We all accept this. This means you have to go catch your food, or you start eating out of cans. However, there already seems to be a method of doing food preservation in the game, in the form of canning (using the jars). The problem I find, is that there isn't a whole lot of them around. I haven't found a ton of them, only 2 or 3.. I think the instances of their showing up should be increased. I also think that some of the rarer portions, such as sugar, should either be increased, or have a method of creating them through farming/cooking.

 

Another idea is to allow food preservation through the making of certain byproducts. Such as rotten milk into cheese, or various meats into jerky. In the case of jerky, you could make a drying rack using sticks and the like, and leave the meat there to dry. This is something people have done for thousands of years.

 

 

3. More vinegar

This ties in with the food preservation. Assuming that they increase the instances of jars and lids showing up, you still need a ton of vinegar. The problem is, that it is also very rare, like the jars. I currently have more jars than vinegar, and it takes 2 vinegar to 1 jar to preserve food.

 

One idea I had was making vinegar. It's not actually that hard. Grapes already exist in the game. All you have to do is make wine, and let it keep going. So add a means of mashing up the grapes, and then let it ferment for a while. That's it.

 

 

4. Natural Fertilizer

 

An idea I had was tied to something we learn as kids in history class. When the Pilgrims came to America, the Indians showed them how they grow corn. One of the steps in the process, was to plant a fish with the seeds in order to fertalize the ground.

 

So, the idea is to allow you to use rotten food as fertilizer. It gives a use to something that currently has no use. I think the idea is great. Fertilizer is relatively rare from what I'm told. Now, it doesn't have to be as good as the real stuff. As chemical fertilizers are just way more potent. But rotten food could maybe give it a slight boost. It's a thought. You could also go with the fish idea as well. Either with real fish, or the bait fish, or both.

 

5. Making Rope/Twine

 

As a side note, I think it isn't too much to ask to be able to make rope and/or twine. You could make it a part of the foraging skill to gather it and make it. Certain farmed plants might make for good cordage as well. Generally, you just need a method of gathering cordage, and then making the rope.

 

 

Alright. I've had my say.

[unmog]

I like all this and fully support more survivor man~

[Kajin]

You can already harvest seeds from plants you grow. It's the last growth stage of the plant. When they turn mature and you want to get seeds, wait another week or so and the plant will go to seed so that you can get food items AND seeds when you harvest.

[Gustav]

1. Seeds

So far, the only way to grow crops is to find a packet of seeds, dig a hole, plant the seeds, and water/maintain them until they can be picked. A fine system. However, I think there should be more to it. Because the power goes out in a few days, that means in a short amount of time, there will be veggies you will never see again because they rot.

 

I think you should be able to harvest seeds from vegetables.

Um you can do that...

[MyTJ]

#1 - I agree it would be nice. Although seed bearing plant do exist, a process for curing seed taken out from a vegetable would allow more diversity in crops.  On the down side, it would require new crops types that don't exist at the time being.  Might happen down the line, but I beleive that there is more pressing issue with NCP and vehicules.

 

#2 - I agree totally.  Some form of cooking that allow to convert perishable food into non-perishable could also include drying fruits and vegetable.

 

#3 - I haven't noticed it in my games, but I agree that we should be able to make conservation agents like vinegar.  Citric acid could work too.  Also, there is a post for brewing beer that would work well with winemaking.

 

#4 - Excellent idea.  Might also make compost in a bin with perishable food (no meat) and grass from the remove grass function (would need a new item for this).

 

#5 - Good idea.  Let's not forget sinew or cured leather from big game if they are implemented.

[gannok]

You can already harvest seeds from plants you grow. It's the last growth stage of the plant. When they turn mature and you want to get seeds, wait another week or so and the plant will go to seed so that you can get food items AND seeds when you harvest.

I did not know that. Good to know now. So that does solve some of the problems I was seeing with farming.

 

 

 

1. Seeds

So far, the only way to grow crops is to find a packet of seeds, dig a hole, plant the seeds, and water/maintain them until they can be picked. A fine system. However, I think there should be more to it. Because the power goes out in a few days, that means in a short amount of time, there will be veggies you will never see again because they rot.

 

I think you should be able to harvest seeds from vegetables.

Um you can do that...

 

So I think there is a misunderstanding here. As was explained to me earlier, when growing the plants, you can get the seeds from the plant by letting it grow longer. I'm still relatively new to the game, and did not know that or read about that anywhere. Awesome to know. However, I'm talking about from the picked veggies. For example: I go to the market, get a tomato, and can harvest it for seeds. That is different than growing a plant from a packet of seeds straight up. That is what I was talking about by harvesting seeds.

[Sanctus]

If you are talking about the veggies you get from supermarkets, they are generally sterile and the  seeds will not grow.  This is a result of the genetic modifying and selective growing used to make the veggies large on nice looking.  Most gardening seeds are the same way.  Heirloom seeds are the exception (along with a few others).