Conditional Foraging

[levism84]

The foraging menu is fairly simplistic as of right now, and I would love it if we could add some conditions to our foraging.

For example, have a box I can click or unclick on the foraging menu where if my condition drops below 20%, I stop foraging. I've died a couple times because I loaded up on calories before foraging for wood, not realizing I had been food poisoned, and subsequently dying when I otherwise would have treated myself. Braver souls or those that are in dire straights could "roll the dice" by unclicking that box, while people who are playing it safe could have it selected and have a bit of a safety net.

Likewise, it would be nice if you could select specifically what you were foraging for. For example, say I have all the tinder in the world, but I need fir firewood and cedar firewood. If I could select those items as what I am really looking for, focusing my search, maybe I would spend less time foraging because I know exactly what I need instead of stopping and collecting the tinder plugs I don't. This could be used to increase the success rate of finding the specified items by a certain percentage (5% per unselected item, up to a maximum of 25%? or something like that?) with the trade off of reducing the chance of finding the unspecified items to 0%.

Along the same lines, if I could limit my search by quantity as well that would be sweet. Maybe I only need two pieces of cedar firewood for crafting/repair purposes, but I am willing to dedicate a maximum of 6 hours to finding them. I don't need any more than two of the item, so I could set a limit of 2 while only selecting cedar firewood. This means I will forage only for cedar firewood and once I have found two, I will return, saving time, body heat, and calories in the process. This would be preferable to spending all 6 hours to locate 5 cedar firewood.

I think this would make much more sense, since you don't want to needlessly wander around with the items you need, searching for items you don't. I do, however, understand it would require a more robust interface, one with options in excess of what currently exists and that requires programming hours. I just hope the developers see the inherent benefit of such flexibility in a survival simulator such as the Long Dark.

[Moose]

I agree. I have also died in my sleep due to food poisoning. As opposed to say, waking up and puking my guts out and feeling like crap.

If anything bad happens, it should kick you out of that mode. Or you should have a cancel button when you see your stats going haywire.

[levism84]

Perhaps a prompt command when you have a condition and you are pushed below 20%?

You have food poisoning and are now at 20%.

[Continue Foraging Wood] [stop Foraging Wood]

Could save lives.

[Moose]

Actually, I think they really need to ditch foraging period.

It's too easy.

And it takes the player out of the game.

Really, what should happen, is wood should litter the forest floor, and you need to get out there, walk around, and find it. It should be treated the same as finding Candy Bars or Down Vests. Actual objects to seek out, pick up, and haul back to camp. It would be a chore, but that's survival for you. Empty an area of litter, and you'll have to find a fresh area if you want fire wood.

When it comes to using the hatchet, you should need to find a fallen or dead tree, and start hacking away, possibly generating firewood.

The current Foraging mechanic is fine for Alpha, but for a real game, they should make the player work for it.