Basic feedbacks

[ichi]

So many great improvements with .9, our patience and the dev's work are paying off. I'm still scavenging and exploring so this is early feedback on some basic systems. YMMV.

Beautiful world, enjoying the complexity of some areas. Overall the game is working quite well, despite having to import into new builds more than I would like, but that's a better problem than not enough updates so...

The rate at which time passes is good.

The levels of light during the night are appropriate.

Rate of food consumption is a little fast; buying food is a little expensive, the amount of space food takes up is high, and there are some gameplay hassles keeping everyone stocked, but if the rate of consumption went down a little it would seem balanced better. Reducing the size of edibles a little would be huge (3x3 down to 2x2 or 2x3).

First Aid Kits/Splints seem balanced (would love to see all reduced to no bigger than 2x2).

Robotic Kits either need to last longer or cost less to buy.

Why does killing Slavermongers get a bounty placed on me? Whooping them jerks should not be a crime!

Goats should not attempt to defend their goat friends. When a goat or other non-aggressive animal is attacked the rest should move quickly away and become wary of our approach for a while. As it is if I kill a damn goat I have to kill a bunch.

Beds - I should be able to lay down and sleep on bandit beds that I come across; if I'm wounded and need rest I care not that this bed isn't mine.

Sleep - The new hunger bar is helpful, will a sleep/rest bar be added as this mechanic is fully developed?

Having fun, keep up the great work!

[Zeal]

Feedback is feedback, but I wanted to point something out regarding the food consumption issue.
It's not actually as rough as it seems at the start, but it does require you have things set up, and make a light sacrifice.

A trade backpack can hold a stack of 9 pieces of 125 nu food. Fill up only the top row of the backpack, and you've got your unit fed for 33 ingame days. That's 33 ingame days you don't have to worry about that hunger bar. Filling up the backpack completely will net you 134 days where you don't have to manage it. The sacrifice is ofcourse that your unit is wearing a backpack..

Lots of suggestions to add a dining table or something that units will go to to eat, provided food is stored within have been made, but i also thought it might be interesting to instead, have a medic-like job, where the person runs around giving food to all those who are hungry. That would mean only one person would have to carry around food.. or more.. Depending on how you wanted to play it.

[ichi]

I expected that response about food/hunger, if not something harsher. "Feedback is feedback" is feedback tho, thanks.

I don't mind carrying a backpack (haven't found one yet in .9x, started an Old Soldier game) and like that the game is hard and requires management, but ...

There's some compelling gameplay to be had in-game, even as a miner or scavenger, and hunger adds to the complexity, I'm glad to have to deal with it. Hunger should make some of the farming/trading mechanics work well.

I'd prefer to have food/hunger be something that, if you fail to deal with it, hurts you in many ways. But, if I deal with, its not a constant hassle for space and planning. For me, early on, hunger/food has become 'the fight' when it should be no more than an important consideration.

As I said in the OP hunger is close to feeling balanced, but the low NU 3x3 stuff is just a bit too much, and if the rate of consumption went down a hair it would work perfectly (for me, YMMV).

[Mattk50]

i think it makes sense for early in the game starvation to be your biggest threat. As you grow your group and get more competent, then food takes a backseat to diplomacy, combat, raids, other bigger threats.

[Berzerker Jay]

I find I don't really have to worry about hunger too much managing a squad of eight in my main game. I'm keeping the numbers low to make it easier until I have food production taken care of, which seems reasonable to me.

I like that it keeps me on my toes and prevents me from gaming the system and doing thoroughly unrealistic things like traveling days on end across the entire map without needing to stop.

I like game mechanics that make me think about towns to stop at along the way, because otherwise it's too easy to just decide to be an outlaw and never have a consequence for it.

My strategy is I basically always keep a meatwrap on each character at all times. If not a meatwrap then some other food that is 125 nu or greater. Food that is 50 nu is not going to work well for you, but then living off nothing but bread is going to leave one feeling pretty famished.

[Zeal]

As I said in the OP hunger is close to feeling balanced, but the low NU 3x3 stuff is just a bit too much, and if the rate of consumption went down a hair it would work perfectly (for me, YMMV).

The most potential food for both NU and space is a 2x2 250 NU. (I believe it's 250.. it's at LEAST 250.. I would need to double check that though.) Right now though I don't think it can be crafted, but there are differing food variations as you move along that help make it less of an issue. I imagine once/if you can ever craft that food, the hassle of food management with space would lighten quite a bit, and those -2 combat skills backpacks aren't too much of a sacrifice. The extra space is worth it.

Like Berzerker Jay says, the meatwraps. Meatwraps require raw meat and bread to craft, and are a 2x3 125 NU. The variation of that same food is the foodcube, which is 2x3 NU 125, requireing greenfruit and bread. Crafting bread requires only water and wheat, which can be obtained freely and in abundance.

Overall though, Just note that those horrible 3x3 foods aren't the only option, and more "optimized" options do open up as you play

I'm not trying to criticize, but hoping to alleviate some of the discontent with that particular area. It does suck at first, but it certainly gets better later on.

[ichi]

Overall though, Just note that those horrible 3x3 foods aren't the only option, and more "optimized" options do open up as you play

I'm not trying to criticize, but hoping to alleviate some of the discontent with that particular area. It does suck at first, but it certainly gets better later on.

I wasn't trying to criticize either, just providing feedback. I concur that hunger should be important, especially at the beginning, the current implementation isn't about emphasis its about inventory management. IMO that's not compelling.

I've compensated by avoiding the high space/lowNU food, and wanted to let the devs know that early on the hunger/food thing, which I'm happy to see in the game, needs a minor adjustment in food size and the rate of hunger/food use.

I've read suggestions from people who I thought didn't understand the game or the philosophy behind it, and I don't wish to change the dev's grand scheme of having this game be difficult. I've played it a lot and can adjust (even mod it if I wish) so its not a matter of delving deeper and figuring it out.

I'm undeterred. No food larger than 2x2 and slow down the rate of use. In a game where inventory space is critical (especially early on) 3x3 food items change it (for me, YMMV) from an important mechanic to an artificial pain-inmy-ass. Doesn't need much of a tweak, tho, and still should be an important mechanic.

If you don't agree, cool beans. If the devs don't agree then it will stay as is. I just wanted to provide some early feedback on how the game felt to me.

[Berzerker Jay]

Okay, but imagine for a minute carrying around a claypot with enough gohan in it to satisfy you through several meals.

You're going to be taking up some of your capacity for carrying with that, legitimately.

If you only carry a snack, sure you can fit that in your pocket, but you better have plans for dinner, right?

[Loengrinn]

The concerns you run into in the argument are gameplay viability vs realism. And while I'm all for realistic approaches to gameplay elements, IMO gameplay should be the greater consideration.

There isn't a HUGE difference in how I see it currently working. It makes sense as it currently is, to a degree. I would like to see some kind of automated system that doles out food to every PC in your group when it's available, whatever that form might take. The struggle to obtain food, especially early game, makes sense, in both the realism and gameplay aspect. As you get better at fighting and/or foraging and cooking all the other variable ways of obtaining food, it makes sense that it becomes less of a concern.

I currently have a decent base setup, and food is more of an annoyance now, simply due to the lack of automated systems to give food to those that need it, despite it being readily and abundantly available. So while I agree with OP in that regard, the rest I think is fine as is. If you're in the wilderness and you have no knowledge of what's edible and what you can forage, you struggle to find food and sustain yourself. As you obtain more knowledge and understanding, and come up with ideas as to how to obtain means of sustenance, it becomes less of a problem and more of a daily routine/chore.

Could the system as a whole use some tweaking? Definitely. Is it broken or implemented poorly and detracts majorly from the game? Definitely not. Is it balanced as is? Actually, yes, you just have to progress a little more to get to those points, which you'll see eventually. Does any of this mean they should leave it as it is and not try to improve it? Well, that depends on how many resources they have and what they should be devoting said resources to. I think it functions well enough as it currently is that I'd rather see them address other points of the game.