Topic

I'm not certain that I fully understand food?

So I have been mostly mining thus far, and buying food in large quantities. However, when I ventured into food making, I was shocked at the number of items that you need to find, convert, mix. The costs, time, and energy are very high. It makes me feel as though there is almost no point to making food (although... I mean... it's very very fun... but practical wise... you know, it's not like we play games for fun, or anything!).

Is there something I'm missing? I feel like the food yield should increase possibly, but I am very inexperienced.

I would like veteran Glitchers to comment; once you accumulate large amounts of food materials, is it worth it to be able to mix them, for the XP, rather than simply teleporting to a food vendor? Or is there something else major that I'm missing?

I just feel that unless the different resource routes are well-balanced, the game will be a grindfest when it launches. Thus far we have a game that encourages sharing and casual play, but let's face it: people will, in massive numbers, metagame the game. And find the best ways to acquire resources, so what's preventing this from happening? I want the game's casual entrepreneurial spirit to stay.

Posted 17 months ago by Rascal Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • It is indeed very expensive energy and resource-wise to make higher level food items, but overall they do give you much more energy in return than their individual components plus what it took to make them. So yes, it is useful, IF you don't mind the work that goes into it. Alot of people actually find it to be fun, and spend much of their time making food that they then sell or even give away. Food making can be a game all to itself.

    If you don't like making food, and you do like mining, then you can spend those extra currants you're earning on just buying some higher level food from the food vendor (can't remember where he is) or the auction. Or you can nibble a whole lot of piggies and eat the meat raw.... mmmmm.... raw meat.....

    EDIT: oh yes, and it gets better as you advance in skills.
    Posted 17 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was going to reply and say that the energy costs go down as you learn more cooking skills, but I don't think thats true. It simply is, like Shepherdmoon said, that you can make higher energy food, so for example, I stock up on the ingredients it takes to make Awesome Stew and make huge batches at a time. At 200 energy a pop, they keep me going through a lot of wandering, project-conributing, harvesting, etc. etc. And I do find the multi-layered aspect of having to convert, mill, gassify and so on before actually making each item fun.

    I personally find mining kind of tedious, so I tend to stay away from it. It really is an individual game, you can choose to buy your food from auctions or vendors if you prefer it and can afford it BattleSloth!
    Posted 17 months ago by Sharmy Knope Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It is very difficult if you do not have the proper skills.
    I have lots of Animal Kinship and Gardening, so I can get over 500 allspice from one trip to Ix, and my Super Harvests from pigs get me 12 meats. Aquiring food is not at all difficult at that point :P

    I would suggest you keep buying food either from vendors or auctions, until you are satisfied with your other mining-ey skills enough to learn some food related skills.
    Posted 17 months ago by Biohazard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I too have had this problem. When I try to cook my own food I almost inevitably end up expending more energy to create the food than I can bring in. I've found it almost impossible to keep my energy up while playing since it always costs more energy to obtain food than you gain from eating it. It's terribly disheartening, and makes me feel like I'm playing the game wrong, when I'm completely out of energy, food, and currants. Does anyone have an example of a net-positive energy food, or is there no such thing, and I should just start buying my food from in-game vendors?
    Posted 17 months ago by Skwid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • When I was at lower levels, I made sammiches at first. Like 80 at a time :p 
    Then I made abbisad ribs for myself, Ix-style braized meat, and obvious paninis. 
    Then awesome stew. <3
    And at one point or another, I made lots of divine crepes for myself.

    Common Crudites are pretty good for energy, I hear, based on a spreadsheet someone did.
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It is not so bad once you have the skills and equipment.  I can't say if you same currants or not but you do save time and you won't go to Hell for lack of food if you have cooking utensils with you.  I was traumatized by lack of food when I first started playing so I really appreciate being able to make some high energy foods whenever I need them.  All of my utensils are in one large bag.  I have not gone to Hell in ages!
    Posted 17 months ago by Brib Annie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Can one understand an onion? Comprehend a cantaloupe? See through seafood?

    Radish the thought.
    Posted 17 months ago by bored no more Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm a fan of raw meat, myself. With the right skills each nibble pays back 10x in energy and once you get some meat collectors you don't have to spend any energy. I've been known to eat an entire 60-stack in one go.
    Posted 17 months ago by Hagbard Celine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • True: you do need to have food as a resource to fuel you while you are making the food, but I'd say hang in there. In the beginning I had similar feelings. It felt like I had to gather so much, use so much energy and then use up all my storage spaces.

    I focus on a core groups of foods. For those I make large batches so I can stack them to capacity. Also, I focus on making the food that will give me the most energy (in the beginning it was just hashes and messy fry-ups). I still do that, but with the larger energy capacity I now have, I also can have fun and make the other recipes. I do enjoy it.

    You know what's funny? Just Wednesday night I was complaining about beans. I had this *huge* surplus of beans and for what?! Coincidentally, that night I was given the new recipe of awesome stew (which ha ha makes me laugh because of Stoot)... and now I can't get enough beans. :)

    Sometimes you just don't know what you need around the Glitch corner.

    tl;dr: blah blah blah emdot
    Posted 17 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOL @ emdot!
    Awesome Stew(art Butterfield AKA Stoot)
    Posted 17 months ago by Chemisie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Good Glitch cooking is just as complicated as collecting the ingredients of and prep-work involved in a Real Life multi-course meal for 12 people. I enjoy Glitch cooking more than Real Life because I ain't gotta do any stinkin' clean up afterwards, hahaha.
    It helps me to arrange my bags in food columns according to related resources and to carry enough filled bags to park at a project and be able to churn out food or drinks in 40 to 80 lot increments. Maxed pertinent skills, all the pots and pans and all the recipes are a blessing and a delight.
    It helps me to take an hour or so per Glitch day just to wander around to specific regions and refill depleted stocks. I will also take advantage of auction deals because collecting resources results in numerous bonus items for resale so I always have mucho currents stashed away.
    It's a nice change of pace to go visit the Vending Wagon in the Deeps and Helga's lashing tail has always fascinated me as much as her wares...I keep expecting to be knocked into the next street if I get too close.
    :o)
    Posted 17 months ago by Poney Tails Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think the purpose of cooked food is to store energy for later use, not to get the most out of collected ingredients or for net energy gain.  In short, you're an ant today for the purpose of being a grasshopper tomorrow.

    That said, I rarely prepare any food any more.  If it comes down to it, I usually just eat collected eggs, meat, or whatever bonus meals I've picked up along the way.  Or meditate.

    It kinda sucks, because I like the cooking aspect of the game, but it just doesn't pay off.  And even those who cook food for functional reasons rely on a very small number of recipes.  Most of the creativity of the cooking tree has gone to waste.

    In terms of using food to power mining, I think your efforts would be better spent buying/making Earthshakers which eliminate the energy penalty entirely.
    Posted 17 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree that the energy expenditure finding the ingredients for and making food even with higher skills, and better equipment is not worth it.  I think the solution for this would be if the energy gained could be increased for all of these recipes.  That would make it more worthwhile and I'd do it more often because it is fun.  I like to mine and my favorite high energy foods are Fish, Cabbage, Meat and Eggs.  Did I say Cheese?
    Posted 17 months ago by Grinelda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • About that creativity in the cooking tree, Biff Beefbat :) 

    I use other recipes than my 'energy' recipes for parties and my neighbors. For example, some people at the Feman Falters party might have heard me say that I tried to make the 'pretty' foods for the party :p

    (sorry that this is off topic, Rascal)
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Actually, I think that's a totally valid use of the recipes, Millie.  I just wish the game engine itself rewarded you for variety.

    Maybe more "effects", like the heartiness of chili and hearty sammiches.  I dunno, that would probably just create a couple more useful recipes.

    It's a bit like the Pokemon dilemma, in that of the hundreds of species, only a few actually turn out to be functional.  Similar to your party foods, varying tastes lead to varying favorites, some of which you might use for sentimental value...but only at the expense of actual game play.
    Posted 17 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just got my invite a week ago to play (yay), however I find the food making and animal
    hearding, raising etc. fun and rewarding, more so than mining. I have chosen to go more for those skills to start with. The more you advance, your receipes get better and you get alot of
    bonus items and higher levels of energy with better foods. IMO mining takes up alot of energy
    but that is something that I will delve further into after I excell at the animal and cooking skills!
    So I guess it is just a matter of personal prefference and and how you enjoy spending your time. I can't wait to get the butterfly milker machine and the feeder for my piggy's in the yard.
    Posted 17 months ago by Saba Moon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • At one point or another, I think the forums discussed the idea forcing people to make/eat different foods each game day by doing something like a message that said 'ugh. you've eaten too much ___' today or '___ is starting to taste bland'.

    I don't remember if the devs said anything about that.... *goes off to look for that thread*

    :) @Saba Moon

    EDIT: OMG I hate searching for stuff in the forums!!! *deep breath* sigh. sorry. 
    I even tried looking for a thread with the same problem as I have with searching the forums >.> that was worse than looking for the food thread.
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Note that a lot of the recipes are wrong and the actual energy cost for creating some of the recipes (Awesome Stew, Chilly Busting Chili, Ix-style Braised Meat for example) is half of what is listed.

    @Millie, I remember at one point they were thinking of making it such that higher level characters had to eat higher level food to get ANY energy out of it at all (so much for eating a stack of eggs for 1250 energy).
    Posted 17 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yeah, Millie, I was just about to mention the possibility of different food categories. What if eating (or drinking) too much of the same food or category gave diminishing returns on energy? And maybe even decreased mood (or energy, for drinks)?
    Posted 17 months ago by Rascal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I can't find that food thread, but I found a few others. A look at history, if you will :p
    http://beta.glitch.com/forum/ideas/2560/
    (and looking at others that I might link here as well)

    @Blitz eek! I'm glad I can still get energy out of raw meat and eggs. 

    Edit: Found it! The thread Blitz and I were talking about http://beta.glitch.com/forum/general/3410/
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Personally, I find the process of tracking down ingredients to make recipes loads of fun. So, I guess it's all about your own goals and attention span.

    One suggestion I have would be that as you level up your cooking skills, the energy level replenishment of even the lower-level foods went up. Or something. So that you wouldn't need to make the higher-level foods with more obscure, high-energy-ouput-to-find ingredients all the time.
    Posted 17 months ago by Alexah Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just found this chart today (by Victoria). Good news, because I was considering making my own. Now I don't have to. nice
    http://www.glitch-strategy.com/wiki/User:Victoria
    Posted 17 months ago by JaXXoN Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have stayed on easier stuff, such as cheese plates and Lotsa Lox at the beginning. That helps, even if you DO need to make ginormous quantities of it to refill your energy tank completely once your about level 20. Or you can start collecting lots and lots of ingredients and have 3 or 4 bags for them like me, and always do Divine Crepes, Awesome Stew, etc.
    Posted 17 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Millie: I'm impressed with your forum search-fu.

    I must say, food is a bit of a mug's game (aside from Ix-style meat and Stew, how many recipes do you make?), but the real useless skillset is drinks.  Here's a whole class of recipes that are almost all useless outside of projects and party favors. The only drinks that are useful, IMO, are Earthshakers, Flaming Humbabas and Bubble Tea.  The rest of the lot are pretty useless. This is really a problem with the whole mood section of the game.  Either it isn't a problem at all (normal interaction) or it's such a serious problem, the drinks are totally inadequate for dealing with it (tree killing or rooks). I'm sort of hoping the mood game gets balanced out so that we aren't dodging those useless mood quoins all the time, but the drinks need to be adjusted so they are actually desirable.
    Posted 17 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think I agree with you on the drinks, Blitz.  Besides Earthshakers, I tend to make drinks for fun :p
    Posted 17 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, I drink a lot after trips to Hell. Serious. Also, you missed out Pungent Sunrise. It speeds up learning, but it's extremely troublesome to make.....
    Posted 17 months ago by KitkatCat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @JaXXoN Wow! You found my chart! I have an even better (and more up-to-date) one on my computer, but Google Docs can't handle that one for some reason. I will update the one on my Wiki profile now I know people actually use it :D
    Still looking for a way to put it to good use on the wiki.

    Rascal, to answer your question. I started out with the cooking skills and when I was halfway through with that I picked up mining. I like making my own food, earthshakers and flaming humbaba. Keep all the precious currants in my pocket :)
    I look after every tree I see in the game and hardly run out of beans, cherries, allspice or eggs. I have 2 meat collectors and 2 butterfly milkers, so that's more meat and milk then I can ever eat. And when I ever run out I buy some from the auctions, they are pretty cheap.
    Posted 17 months ago by Victoria Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think it might be better to just throw Pungent Sunrises into the favor toilets for all they do for you.  Or at least close enough to make them unworthy of fussing with.

    Good point about mood being a virtually pointless part of the game, other than to make you dodge the smiley quoins.
    Posted 17 months ago by Biff Beefbat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Pungent Sunrises take 90 seconds off the learning timer... that's equivalent to 9 Favor of the favored giant of the skill you're learning.  Chucking the drink into a shrine gives you 16 Favor... Pungent Sunrises were more desirable when the buff actually stacked with sped up learning from the shrines.

    @KitKatCat, yes, after a trip to Hell, you're low on mood, but, like I said, there's Bubble Tea (takes one of each bubble, gives 30 mood and doubles the effect of Meditation for 2 minutes).  Depending on your meditation skill, you can get up to 150 mood from "meditating under the influence" (more common to get 100). Drinks would be more useful if the drink buffs stacked, but they don't, so the only useful mood drink is Bubble Tea for the huge initial mood boost and the super-useful buff.
    Posted 17 months ago by Blitz Subscriber! | Permalink