Ideas list: Skill Foraging, predators

[Ms Nutcracker]

I was told that i should just post my ideas in one post so i will do that now and update it. So i dont get mistaken for spamming.

Anything I need to know please PM and let me know if I am doing anything wrong my post.

Foraging

Since this is a realistic game it would be so nice to see you go out and forage for all kinds of food. So in winter you wont find much vegetables out there but you can still find some grass that can be edible but not so nutritious. Or perhaps some frozen food growing that you can harvest in winter? So ontop of random food being put in huts having to forage also from the forest will add to the fun. It would really work well in summer. Perhaps you can forage and eat things on trees too? Have to research on this. And each time you forage your skills go up for that.

I found some for winter :

Arctic raspberry and blueberry

Arctic willow

Bearberry

Cranberry

Crowberry

Dandelion

Eskimo potato

Fireweed

Iceland moss

Marsh marigold

Reindeer moss

Rock tripe

Spatterdock

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata )(no surprises considering how invasive and hardy it is)

Wild strawberries (Fragaria vesca) Hawkweed (Hieracium) Clovers (Trifolium pratense or Trifolium pretens) (red and white) Various mustards (Brassicas) Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

Some resource:

http://www.eattheweeds.com/winter-foraging/

Trees Are Edible Too

Many trees and many parts of them are a great source of food in the winter however, they can be labour intensive to harvest depending on what part you are harvesting.

The obvious trees in winter to look to for food are the conifers. Pine, spruce, fir, tamarack and hemlock all have high levels of vitamin C. Also remember that the juniper is also a conifer and many have berries throughout the winter. Most pine and spruce trees (there are many sub-species) contain beta carotene. The juniper contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, calcium, chromium, cobalt, iron, magnesium, manganese and phosphorus.

Tree bark can be collected and ground into a powder and used as flour to bake or if in a survival situation, mix with water and make a “pancake”. The most nutrition will be located in the inner cambium.

Needles can be collected, dried and ground into a powder. Use these as a seasoning to enhance a meal. Or, you can use the needles to make tea. Hemlock needles are soft enough that these can be eaten raw.

The sap from a pine or spruce can be chewed on (like gum) for the nutrition. When frozen, it can be warmed up in the hands first so that it can be chewed.

Deciduous Trees

The most amazing tree to consume by far is the birch tree. There are many species of the birch tree but all provide a wealth of nutrition. Chaga grows on living trees and although it looks ugly, it is full of life-giving nutrients. Birch polypores are edible as well, although in the winter they will be very tough. The bark, twigs, and even the older catkins that hang in through the winter are all edible. In spring leaves and buds are edible as well.

Other deciduous trees that are edible (inner cambium, spring leaves, catkins) include aspen, beech, maple and willow (although eating a lot of the willow bark or catkins is not recommended because it contains salicin.

Some maple trees keep their seeds throughout the winter and although they lose moisture content, they are still edible.

Animals storing food:

Eskimo potato

The "Eskimo potato" (Claytonia tuberosa) is gathered for its roots, which grow up to three feet long and measure about an inch in diameter. They are dug from the ground during their dormant stage, just after the first frost of winter or in the spring before they sprout. The Inupiaq Eskimo find caches of roots stored by rodents for the winter and trade them a token of other foods as the Claytonia are removed from the cache. The tubers are dried for storage, or they may be stored in seal oil by coastal people or in bear grease by inland people

You could have random food storages of these types of food for the animals. And If you so happen to have the right skills to find these storage you can harvest it even though its in the middle of winter!

Moral standard to destroy or not?

Do you tear down a beaver house because you need its wood? in doing so you kill the beaver and its young. What do you do? TLD has this already. So this can make it interesting also.

Fishing

You can make this already but perhaps add more realism and you need to find hooks for certain fishes. And fishing line too. Perhaps in a hut you have cupboards that has these tools in there to take? Like if there was a fishing dock well you would find all sorts of fishing stuff there.

But the problem is getting the line perhaps you need to find some other way cause string is not replaceable cause its decays and not manufactured. Since technology is gone.

There are fish trap that can be made out of bamboo?

Fish spear out of stone?

Primitive bone fish hooks.

Perhaps learn from the people of the bush and how they hunt in winter? And add that to the game?

Shell fish benefit the ice!

You can check for shell fish just beneath the ice sheet near the river. You need to be clever to know where to find it though. Find where the otters are and looked!

Predators resources:

Add more realism to the life in TLD. Wolves and other predators can hunt you if you kill all their resource. They dont walk around guarding something they are always hidden and come out when its safe. So they stalk you at night and late afternoon. If they become real hunger they will really try and find and eat you if possible. So becareful at night and dont take all the resources that they live on.

Have many predators like bears, eagles, etc a whole ecosystem.

HARD MODE:

Players can set this and then resources would be low and so the predators will come out and hunt you to make it more challenging.

Also since something went very wrong with the human race they would be some effect to the wildlife so it wont be so abundant like it would be in normal time.

Some ideas for the dev if they want this in the game. Thanks!

Whale carcasses and predators

This would be rare find! But it could suddenly be wash on shore and you have a big feast and at least you wont starve. But they will be bears and all the rest eating it. So you need to be quick and well smart!

Minerals and poison

Not sure if this will help but how about having mineral source like salt and so on? So not only do you need to care for body temp but also for vital minerals? Too much salt and that could cause some dangerous illness? Too little and you might be fatigue or something? This might be too troublesome but perhaps some of it could help? Perhaps food to help the eye see better? More strength? Eating fatty food.

And also Poison?

Eating a large carcass might look good but perhaps you need to consider if you will have high levels of mercury. Is this too difficult? You might need something to test it?????

[pikkue]

I feel a bit bad to say again that your idea is kind of hard to manage for a small team and might be not fitting into tld again.

Yes you spam a lot, but sometimes good ideas come along your way and you seem to be very excited for the game and how to develope it's mechanics.

With so much energy you should maybe find something irl to spend your energy on, would bring you much progress I think.

cheers.

[Myshaak]

That's not a bad suggestion. Try programming. I'd suggest C# - it's a modern language, easy to learn and with a superb developer studio. Google for Microsoft Visual Studio Express for Desktop.

[The_Hawk35]

I like a lot of the items you mention here. Although most betties and greenery would be buried by snow, it would be interesting if they were a rare find. Perhaps hear trees (which in reality would have a space around them with a lower snow level that open space).

I'd also like to see being able to harvest bark and make a net that you could leave under the ice to catch fish. Similar to how you snare rabbits? It would make fishing more effective and not just a hobby to pass the time while getting achievements

[EternityTide]

Hawk, I mentioned this in a previous post: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=2726

A foldable fishing trap that can be lowered through the ice hole and unfolded the other side.

Looks similar to this:

[Ms Nutcracker]

thanks hawk and thanks ET for the ideas. Thanks for being mature about the ideas. And I like that trap ET! Perhaps it be nice to see it in the game sometime. Thanks for link!

All the plants can be found in real life and in the artic so even though cover by snow if you know where to find it you have some food to live on!

Perhaps even whale meat? Just wash up on the shore line! A rare find! Though high in mercury so not so good in the long run!

I will update the list!

[pikkue]

Hawk, I mentioned this in a previous post: http://www.hinterlandforums.com/viewtop ... =59&t=2726

A foldable fishing trap that can be lowered through the ice hole and unfolded the other side.

Looks similar to this:

..hearing the line snapping already..