Meat Storage!

[circleVIII]

So I have noticed that by storing your meat (both raw and cooked) outside on the ground, it decays very slowly relative to if it were in your inventory, or indoors. I think that this was a great addition to the game, but I also think that it should have its drawbacks. I have been able to store weeks and weeks worth of food outside of my base (no matter where it is) without repercussion at all... And I feel that this makes the game slightly too easy on all difficulties below Interloper. 

What I suggest is that if one were to use this method of preserving their food, predators should be attracted to it! This will probably require touching up the decoy system as well (as I have noticed that wolves do not care for a decoy dropped if they were not already tracking you) but it would be a fantastic, realistic implementation to the game. As of currently, the outdoors are a very large, very safe freezer that can allow me and every other player to stockpile months and months of food without spoil or danger. My recommended implementation would require players to risk being attacked and/or losing their food to predatory animals, should they choose to store their meat outdoors. This would force players to rethink their strategies regarding the stockpiling of meat, and would make the game more difficult for anyone trying to stay in one location and "boost" their days survived! Players may also be forced to hunt/fish/scavenge on a more regular basis, adding to the "late-game" viability of play which can become somewhat repetitive and static at times. Nothing would frighten me more than leaving my base only to find a bear chowing down on my hard-earned venison steaks! 

I hope this suggestion is helpful, and I look forward to hearing your opinion on the matter!

[mystifeid]

I like hunting wolves and it would be too easy if all I had to do was lay some meat out on the ground to attract some. Half the problem is actually finding them in the first place. And bears become very vulnerable when you are able to choose the site of your confrontation (compare this to leading a bear to a fishing hut for example before putting an arrow in it's guts).

Also with level 5 cooking skill, wolf and bear meat can be eaten without penalty when cooked so I'd basically have an inexhaustible food supply for the cost of a piece or two of meat at a time and without ever having to go anywhere. Which I think is pretty much the opposite of your intention.

It might be better if some of the meat just disappeared every night.

[circleVIII]

5 hours ago, mystifeid said:

I like hunting wolves and it would be too easy if all I had to do was lay some meat out on the ground to attract some. Half the problem is actually finding them in the first place. And bears become very vulnerable when you are able to choose the site of your confrontation (compare this to leading a bear to a fishing hut for example before putting an arrow in it's guts).

This is an excellent point! I think, however, that there are ways around this. Maybe the animal auto-charges you if you were to approach, as if it were starving and nothing would separate it from its meal? I'm not sure... Maybe have the crows take to it as well! That could get mighty annoying!

[mystifeid]

4 hours ago, circleVIII said:

Maybe the animal auto-charges you if you were to approach, as if it were starving and nothing would separate it from its meal?

My favorite way of killing wolves just happens to be letting them charge me and bears are so big you can sit back and take long range shots.

[diffeq]

I used to assume the animals would get it. thus i only used outdoor containers. I was very pleased to learn that i could stack it right at my front door. i vote not to change it.

[mystifeid]

So even in Interloper it is easily possible to keep 50 - 100kg of meat outside your door which when cooked at level 5 can never give you food poisoning.

50% meat? Yum yum.

It would be good if something was added to deter, hinder or subtract from this stockpiling.

[mystifeid]

Here is a Pleasant Valley meat locker (84kg)

[HazardousHowitzer]

I like being able to put meat outside and have it last but it is a little ridiculous. I like the idea of having animals getting the meat but it seems like a good opportunity to get all the meat back, having them sitting at your door. Perhaps they could add a freezer burn feature? Where freezing it works but depending on the weather, the cold could make the meat worse. Or if not that, maybe a feature where you would have to hang the meat up in a tree. You know, the bags you use so bears and other animals can't get your food. You'll need to craft a bag with cloth or find one and you'd also need a rope. Then you can store SOME meat inside of that bag and hoist it up a tree. Then, throughout blizzards and other bad weather, the bag would take condition hits and would eventually rip. If you don't monitor the bag, you might come back to it one day and see it ripped open and all your meat being eaten by wolves on the ground. Just an idea, it seems like it would work.

[cekivi]

I have no problem with this mechanic on the surface. Food does keep longer frozen. And I know from personal experience that freezer burnt or not if you're hungry enough everything is edible. But I do agree that you should need containers. Food on the ground would get wet (snow still melts a little in the sun), dirty (you and animals), contaminated (lots of microbes live in snow), and stolen (free food for scavengers). Since limited base building is on the roadmap I have hope that this will be addressed eventually.

[Jebru]

If people think having the current predators steal the food stored outside would be too much of a hunting opportunity; could we have the crows steal it instead? You could also have them raid your kills that you don't harvest right away. Right now they only seem to be around spawned carcasses. 

[mystifeid]

+1 for crows and meat bags.

[cekivi]

23 minutes ago, Jebru said:

If people think having the current predators steal the food stored outside would be too much of a hunting opportunity; could we have the crows steal it instead? You could also have them raid your kills that you don't harvest right away. Right now they only seem to be around spawned carcasses. 

I've actually suggested that before

The meat bag is going a little far. Frozen meat wouldn't smell much so if it's in a container (e.g. car trunk) wolves and bears probably wouldn't notice it. Still, it'd be nice to at least bring a container outside even if you couldn't craft one yourself.

[HazardousHowitzer]

Really, the houses would have the same effect as being outside in real life. It would actually better inside. Most houses are below freezing air temp in this game so there shouldn't even be a difference between inside and outside with some houses. I don't think the meat bag is too much. If bears can smell food through bags and other containers IRL then the same would apply in a realistic survival game. They would smell the meat even if it were frozen and would go after it whether it's in a container or not. If it's in a "meat bag" they wouldn't get it as easily. I for one, would not store buckets of meat inside of a plastic or metal container, they would destroy it (not always literally) and get the meat. Not with the meat bag though, that's why it's used so much when camping and doing other outdoor or survival things. 

And if we could just bring a container outside and store the meat in it without wildlife noticing it, that would kind of defeat the purpose. It would be no different than just placing the meat on the ground.

[cekivi]

9 minutes ago, HazardousHowitzer said:

Really, the houses would have the same effect as being outside in real life.

Well... I'm kinda hoping houses are rebalanced to better reflect real life. If you start a wood fire in a well insulated home it'd warm up quite quickly. More than enough to thaw and spoil meat

 

 

[pulkmees]

What if we could just drag a crate or file cabinet outdoors ? By drag I mean probably just equip then drop....

I wouldn't waste resources on making one if I could just put them in one that's already been made.

Accompanying that I'd probably put some sort of a alarm trap, that would scare away the wildlife and alert me.

[ArmagedDan]

I also thought animals would get to the meat. Even now that I know, I still reflexively prefer to use a container.

 

I think this functionality could be implemented very simply while still being realistic, and not opening the game up to hunting exploits.  Most scavengers are nocturnal, and (event-crazed wolves aside) tend to avoid human contact.  Therefore, things generally happen to your outdoor stuff overnight, and you pretty universally come out to find the results the next day. If you were out there watching it, the raccoons, wild dogs, coyotes, cats, and so forth would stay away.  If you're not watching it, they'll creep up and grab your stuff while you're indoors. 

 

In other words, all they need to do would be to give meat left outdoors a small percentage chance per night, while the player is sleeping in another area (indoors, another map, etc), of disappearing.  If we wanna get fancy and if they don't want players to report it as a glitch, they could replace the victim meat with the blood splotch decal, for example.  I would be all for this nod to realism!

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @ArmagedDan  

[diffeq]

I still vote no on disappearing meat. Being that cooking is the most tedious activity in the game, in my opinion. Although that's supposed to change, jubilation.

[SteveP]

How about if the meat disappears when left outside only while you are not around. Or it could be spoiled by crows defecating on it. I think it was suggested to build a meat cache before; it could be either buried underground with lots of stones to discourage the bear, or high up in trees with a roof. It would take some time to build this sort of meat cache.

Another option for meat preservation would be to make pemmican. You would need berries, fat and dried meat.

I agree that the inside temperature of an unheated house will be very close to outdoor temperatures; maybe 5C warmer than outside due to solar heating and thermal inertia. Once you build a fire inside a house, it should take an hour or more to warm up and several hours to cool down again.

I understand that there is to be a refinement to the cooking mechanic so I'm very looking forward to that. We should boil bones to make soup as well as render fat to make pemmican. We should also be able to dry meat on racks in preparation for making jerky or pemmican. I'll look for another post that mentions pemmican to put my specific comments on that process. Otherwise look for it on the Fat Harvesting thread.

[RüdigerNehberg]

Man, i had no idea that was possible! Also propably more immersive in my way that i played the game. I allways stuffed ma meat in some trunk of a car nearby. hmmmm... now that i have the information and considering im a lazy guy i hope that gets  chaged !

[Silverhour]

Wait... you can open the trunks on the cars? Have I seriously been missing out on this the entire time?

[cekivi]

2 hours ago, Silverhour said:

Wait... you can open the trunks on the cars? Have I seriously been missing out on this the entire time?

Sorry but yes

Make sure you bring a prybar if you're going looking for car trunks to loot. Some are locked.