Purpose of food clock?

Aleccia · Post by **Aleccia** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:07 am

From the perspective of a new player the whole food-drink thing is already a major irritant that I can easily see becoming even worse. I suppose the theory is that it adds to the immersion? In practice I only see it getting in my way.

As a newbie it greatly reduces the amount of time I can spend looking for other players to interact with in two ways - limited finances, and not being able to semi-AFK in one spot to see if other players to interact with show up. The more time I spend not logged-out and not grinding, the closer I get to final starvation. Not to mention that if I were to get involved in a nice long 3-hour roleplay session - then the food clock will definately be in the way.

The amount of time it takes to go from 'full' to 'starving' is unbelieveably fast as well. I already found the nice little TIME command, which I can only assume is the definitive way to tell how much IC time has passed. Starving to death should take days, right? Not hours? The food clock is simply not synced up with IC timekeeping.

What purpose does the food clock as it is currently implemented serve?

Yemin · Post by **Yemin** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:13 am

If you're going from stuffed to starving in less than a 2 hour rl period, there's something wrong.

Also, you'll find food becomes les and less of an issue once you start making money. You can live off 1 gold for a long time and there are foods that are more filling than others to save you space and weight but most of that knowledge comes from IC interaction, though the dummies in Waterdeep's snuckery are quite rich not to mention the other sources of income you'll encounter soon as you level up.

As a new player I advise you to actively seek players to interact with, either through yelling. Gathering at the market square at peak player times which is usually some early evening EST time or perhaps even just finding the note board in game and sending someone a letter asking for help for something from a poster you like or pick at random.

For example, I have a character with a post on there at the moment who is advertising interest in buying some items. You could contact him via amuelt or letter asking if you could meet to learn more about the items advertised even though you don't have them for sale. Just as a hook to meet someone etc.

Vaemar · Post by **Vaemar** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:29 am

The food clock in this mud is mostly a warning that reminds your character they have to eat or drink. If you are in the middle of an important rp you can safely ignore it in my humble opinion. Already at low levels the hp you lose from starvation is smaller than the amount you recover at each server tick. So the thing is mostly an rp issue.

Some tips:
-There are some early quests that grant you a good amount of coin, with which you can get food and booze.
-Scrounge food and booze from other people!
-There are some places where you can get free food and it is IC totally legit to do so. Look around or ask where.

-If your character is a cleric, you can learn a spell called create food that spawns enough food to make you stuffed.
-There are some magical items that allow you to ignore the needing for food. You might consider asking around for one of them.

Harroghty · Post by **Harroghty** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 11:36 am

I understand your frustration, but despite warnings to the contrary, you will not actually die. You will lose a little health (replenished by the next round) and, if totally ignored for a really long time, become disoriented. Yemen is right: it's something you will quickly overcome as you become accustomed to it.

Althasizor · Post by **Althasizor** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:32 pm

Just to quickly add, you actually -can- die to it, but not in the higher levels. I've had a few young alts that I ignored hunger code too long on, only to have it decapitate them.(Hunger code ticks damage the head, and can destroy it)

Andreas · Post by **Andreas** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:09 pm

...if totally ignored for a really long time, become disoriented.

I've never had this happen to any of my characters and I often ignore hunger/thirst messages in favor of not breaking RP immersion during long RP sessions.

I happen to enjoy all the unique foods and drinks that can be found in the game. Sometimes it's nice RP to enjoy a meal with someone.

Ungtar · Post by **Ungtar** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:22 pm

I enjoy foods too and the logistics of procuring them. I actually prefer to go the other way with MORE realism in the needs of food and water. But I like "Don't Starve" too.

Thurgan · Post by **Thurgan** » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:26 pm

Oh you can definitely become bat crap crazy if you put it off long enough. Eventually your mental state deteriorates and you start hallucinating and walking in random directions.

Andreas · Post by **Andreas** » Sat Apr 30, 2016 9:04 pm

Thurgan wrote:Oh you can definitely become bat crap crazy if you put it off long enough. Eventually your mental state deteriorates and you start hallucinating and walking in random directions.

Now I want to test this... LOL!

Lylena · Post by **Lylena** » Sun May 01, 2016 6:38 am

You can gauge how soon you might go bonkers from lack of food when you type affect. It'll tell you your mental state.

Ungtar · Post by **Ungtar** » Sun May 01, 2016 11:14 pm

I'd like to take the opportunity of this thread to ask if any other players would enjoy some more survival-oriented elements in the game?

Yemin · Post by **Yemin** » Mon May 02, 2016 12:02 am

That's a firm no from me.

I tried a mud with more survival mechanics in it, and it was fairly good for the type of person who enjoys starving to death, or freezing to death in the wilderness but I don't really.

I even in large kind of find eating in muds somewhat lack luster unless the mud itself is deeply emersive.

Gwain · Post by **Gwain** » Mon May 02, 2016 2:21 am

The current food system is better than the older one we had. That system required you to eat regularly at a greater rate. The current one requires you to eat liberally now and then.

Yemin · Post by **Yemin** » Mon May 02, 2016 8:21 am

I guess question now is really, what purpose does it serve right now? You can't die from it at even a fairly low level and it takes so long for detrimental effects to occur that while I knew about them I've never experienced them. And I'm fairly lax about eating.

Personally, I'm fairly sure I wouldn't enjoy the game any less if we didn't have to eat at all but more out of an rp choice, which is kind of what already happens.

On the other hand, I'm fairly sure if starving had a better effect like....

SRD wrote: Starvation and Thirst
Characters might find themselves without food or water and with no means to obtain them. In normal climates, Medium characters need at least a gallon of fluids and about a pound of decent food per day to avoid starvation. (Small characters need half as much.) In very hot climates, characters need two or three times as much water to avoid dehydration.
A character can go without water for 1 day plus a number of hours equal to his Constitution score. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
A character can go without food for 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed.*
* Not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.

I guess we don't really have nonlethal damage here? I'd be fine taking real damage per fort save with the save harder to make the longer it goes. I think fatigue plus damage would spur me to make sure of food if I was suddenly taking -2 str and dex, can't speed run etc as soon as I get hit with the starving message.

I believe the rate of eating we have here loosely matches this right? I think I get more or less very hungry from stuffed every 4 or 6 hours rl or so.

The other big thing for food and starvation would be that it can't be healed. There are spells to make it, and spells to make you full but if heal didn't work then it would give both though the latter spell more worth to have prepped.

In relation and going back to Ungtar's question, it might be nice for rangers to have a gather food skill that operates whilst in wilderness rooms if hunger gains these new more severe qualities. And a skill to find and make camp whilst in wilderness / underground. The camp depending on skill when resting in the room would speed natural hp regain for his party or anyone that chose to rest in that room for a set time and effectiveness based on skill. Extend this to druids and now both classes have a bit more of their iconic skills represented. Just predicting the weather and laying basic snares and traps in wilderness to go.

As I continue to think on this. It might encourage groups to leave dungeons and rp outside it if they take a battering and need to reprep. The sector type and location of a dungeon would then add a small but noticeable dimention to gameplay.

Ha, well, I guess this contradicts my original firm no. I would like more environmental effects if they were handled subtley rather than just bludgeoning you with hunger, cold and disease. Not to mention seeing nature classes gain more facets of the survival skill which is really one of their biggest niches and the reason parties usually seek them out in the first place.

Vaemar · Post by **Vaemar** » Mon May 02, 2016 9:12 am

I come from muds where starving and survival mechanics were rather important, and I remember that they were so stressful that often kept people from logging on. So for food and thirst I would leave it as it is now, personally.

Point is that these things are somewhat funny if you solo, but if you are in a long rp and the server breaks it with hunger or thirst I found it really annoying. Actually this happens often enough already, I see absolutely no need to make it worse.

For other climate effects such as cold, warm, diseases it would be nice on the other hand, because it makes travelling less banal and more interesting.

P.S.
About food, however, I would really love to see most food items be made craftable by player characters. Thing like, I went to the Yuirwood, see how I brew their wine, I went to Luskan see how I boil the Luskan egg, etc.

Aleccia · Post by **Aleccia** » Fri May 06, 2016 1:19 am

Merely pointing out the food/hunger is worse on some muds doesn't justify its existence in this one.

I'm out. It's bad enough that I have to spend half of my time thinking about how to navigate the twisted maze that is Text-Only Waterdeep. When the other half is spent thinking about the food clock and coin remaining to buy said food then the game is no longer about roleplay and adventuring. I didn't come here for a game about time-limited maze navigation, so I'll have to look elsewhere for a place to spend my time.

Zethanon · Post by **Zethanon** » Fri May 06, 2016 2:28 am

Aleccia wrote:It's bad enough that I have to spend half of my time thinking about how to navigate the twisted maze that is Text-Only Waterdeep.

Under the Help button at the top of the page, there are maps you can see and use as a rough guide to help take away the burden of navigation. Coin and food are fairly simple to come across in game either by RP or by killing dummies and other creatures that drop coin. More often than not food is left as a free grab, but so it goes.

Gwain · Post by **Gwain** » Fri May 06, 2016 5:22 am

Aleccia wrote: I'm out. It's bad enough that I have to spend half of my time thinking about how to navigate the twisted maze that is Text-Only Waterdeep. When the other half is spent thinking about the food clock and coin remaining to buy said food then the game is no longer about roleplay and adventuring. I didn't come here for a game about time-limited maze navigation, so I'll have to look elsewhere for a place to spend my time.

What would you change that would allow you to enjoy the game more? And what would you keep the same based on your experiences with the game so far?

Mikhail · Post by **Mikhail** » Fri May 06, 2016 1:58 pm

Aleccia wrote:It's bad enough that I have to spend half of my time thinking about how to navigate the twisted maze that is Text-Only Waterdeep. When the other half is spent thinking about the food clock and coin remaining to buy said food then the game is no longer about roleplay and adventuring. I didn't come here for a game about time-limited maze navigation, so I'll have to look elsewhere for a place to spend my time.

I'm an old timer recently returned from over a decade away. I literally keep maps up all the time when I'm online - both actual game maps and Faerun maps from other sources. They are a huge help. Also, there's a map function most mud clients can allow that shows you the graphical text representation of where you are.

Sadly, it sounds like a text-based game isn't for you. Good luck!

Ungtar · Post by **Ungtar** » Fri May 06, 2016 5:47 pm

Sounds like a MUSH is more up your alley.

Purpose of food clock?

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