suggestion Make starvation meaningful

[LoneWolfyBoi]

Starvation should actually be a meaningful disadvantage to stop the strategy of starving during the day, and eating just for the night. In a real survival situation starving would really mess with your energy, morale, strength etc. 

Some ideas:
1). Fix the current system that lowers your max energy if starving for too long. This is a fine debuff, but it takes way too long to activate so you can completely avoid it by eating right before sleeping every night. More on debuffs later.
2). Easiest way to fix would be to just increase how much damage you take from starving.
3). Possibly a better way would be to add a debuff if you're starving and possibly additional debuffs if you're starving for long. Example debuffs: Slower interaction time (crafting, harvesting etc), slower walking speed, weakness (wolves do more dmg if you're caught). Debuff(s) would activate either as soon as you begin starving, or very soon after (1-2 hours) and could stack if starving for too long.

Please feel free to tell me your opinion about this matter and possible better ways to solve this issue.

[Azdrawee]

See, I think this issue was solved already with Well Fed. It's a very cleverly designed buff that encourages not starving, but also doesn't make you feel punished for using it as a clever Interloper strategy. You can plan ahead and either starve yourself if you're just looking to survive, or you can eat food for three days if you want to carry a lot of things for whatever reason.

Making a significant de-buff for starving would only make players feel punished for being clever and would probably make a big part of the community disappointed with the update. I think it's fine as it is.

[Aurimas]

3 hours ago, LoneWolfyBoi said:

Easiest way to fix would be to just increase how much damage you take from starving.

It's already very unrealistic as realistically you could survive for weeks without eating anything.. so making it even more punishing would be an immersion breaker for me!

Edited April 4, 2020 by Aurimas

[odizzido]

If anything I think you take too much damage from starvation already. Same with being thirsty. While I am playing the as the dead sleep challenge I literally have to wake up for a drink break from sleeping otherwise I will start dying from thirst. It's already crazy.

The problem with the game, if you call it a problem, is the calories and health are largely interchangeable. If you make the health really easy to get that means calories are really easy to get. My personal solution is to play custom games where you simply don't regenerate life when you sleep. This makes staying fed important as you very often need more health. I tend to be a fan of longer term things where you can see problems developing and have a significant amount of time to work on a solution.

 

Something I would personally like to see is a body weight system where eating a calorie deficit eats into your body weight which over time produces all sorts of negative effects, and eventually death. But maybe that's too complicated and would take too much work. Maybe that could be something I could mod when the game opens up.

[ManicManiac]

Starvation is already meaningful.  I don't think there is anything to fix.
I've discussed this a lot before so I will just echo it hear as opposed to rewriting everything again:

On 2/24/2020 at 3:16 AM, ManicManiac said:

Combat starvation more effectively:
Why?  I mean, I just don't see a need.  What's odd though, is that a lot of what you describe is already here with us, it's not given a discrete affliction or convenient "risk meter."  I tried it out the other day...  After going on zero calories we do get a fatigue penalty, and the longer we go without eating that fatigue penalty keeps getting more severe.  Also, in order for that penalty to gradually go away and return to normal we have to keep food in our stomachs.  The other part I like to point out, a survivor should be able to ration their food/water how they want to, right?  Shouldn't that be a player's prerogative, if they want to eat sparingly or gorge themselves and keep a full stomach at all times (and every variation in between)?  Considering what's already in place, I just don't see a need for the game to force a particular play style... especially when I think that play style should (for the most part) be up to the player.

 

6 hours ago, Azdrawee said:

I think this issue was solved already with Well Fed.

    ^ Agreed. 

Edited April 4, 2020 by ManicManiac

[odizzido]

Is there anything about this game you think could use improvement manic? Every post I see you make says the game is fine the way it is.

[ManicManiac]

@odizzido

I don't know whether you're asking in earnest or not, but I'll answer it assuming it was an honest question.
I've posted about this topic before, because it does tend to come up frequently. 

On 2/20/2020 at 3:16 AM, ManicManiac said:

Well, I'm not really out to be disagreeable just for the sake of it... but it seems I do have a different perspective than a lot of folks when it comes to how I see this game.

On 2/25/2020 at 3:39 AM, ManicManiac said:

I don't have a desire to keep the game the same, but so far I've always been able fully embrace each of the changes Hinterland has made over the years.  My points of view are rooted in trying (in my own way) to understand and appreciate the choices they've made; as well as to communicate the reasons why I see it that way.  This is the main reason I choose to weigh in on the topics I do.

I'm not out to discount your opinions or points of view.  They are your opinions and from that perspective they're all valid.  I don't want the game to stagnate either, but I don't always agree with proposed ideas or the reasons behind why some of those ideas are being put forth.  So far, every change that's been implemented... I've found good reasons to accept and appreciate them.  So it's not that I'm against change, but I do like to offer that different point of view when the subjects arise from within the fan base.

On 12/21/2019 at 6:21 AM, ManicManiac said:

I love the discussion of ideas and the exchange of points of view.

I've made posts in the wishlist subforum in the past as well, but the longer I played the more I came to understand (or at least by my estimations) and respect why things were implemented the way they were.

To be clear, there have been ideas here that I have very much supported... the other's I have just weighed in on with my perspective.  I think it's equally valuable for any developer to hear from both sides of an idea or opinion.  I seem to have a much different perspective on the game as a whole than a lot of people on the forum.  Which I suppose has caused some to assume I'm against changing anything... which is not the case.  In the end, I trust Hinterland to do what's best for their game... so if they see fit to change things, then great.  I've not objected to anything they've changed, even though I've not always agreed with the changes... I've accepted them and took the challenge of adapting my play style to overcome those decisions I initially didn't like.  I didn't fuss about it... I chose to embrace it, and as a result I've become much happier with the game.

I do feel (that at least to some degree) I understand and can appreciate the choices that Hinterland has made with their game... and I think a voice expressing that is not harmful, but provides a counter balance to all the voices who do what to change things based on their own personal preferences.

I don't condemn other's for their opinions, I just don't always agree with them because I try to understand and appreciate why Hinterland makes the choices they do.  To me player choice is more powerful at adjusting the experience than wanting to change the game itself.

I think the game gives players far more agency than most realize (at least in survival)

On 2/28/2020 at 1:24 AM, ManicManiac said:

I appreciate the love and care Hinterland takes with their vision for the game.

On 2/5/2020 at 2:24 AM, ManicManiac said:

As players we can either accept the world we've been given or we can object to it (or certain aspects).  I tend to be in the group who appreciates the world that has been crafted here, and I don't much try to scrutinize the creative choices that were most likely made for gameplay reasons.

On 2/17/2020 at 11:48 PM, ManicManiac said:

I think that player behavior doesn't need to be fixed by a developer...

On 10/8/2019 at 12:17 AM, ManicManiac said:

It's just a design choice.  We can either accept the "reality" we are playing in, or we can choose to let small perceived inconveniences ruin our experience; and that's a personal choice.

 

I hope this compilation of previous posts can help illustrate where my point of view comes from...  I think these few selections more or less encapsulate it.  I am also very much believe in the power of player choice, and I think this game in particular is very strong in this aspect.

Edited April 5, 2020 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

19 hours ago, odizzido said:

Is there anything about this game you think could use improvement manic?

I forgot to answer your main question

Yes, there are things I think that could use improvement, and I do acknowledge when I think perhaps mechanics could use more attention.  Sometimes I discuss those ideas, but for the most part I don't presume to know better that Hinterland what's best for their game and their vision for it.  In other words before criticizing, I try first to accept and adapt... and in most cases I can find good reason to like and embrace the changes that Hinterland chooses to make.

That being said, are there things I think could use improvement... sure.

If you like I can go into that sometime, but I think that might be considered even more of topic than our present tangent

Edited April 5, 2020 by ManicManiac

[odizzido]

Yes I do get the feeling you try to accept and adapt. Which is fine. Yeah at some point I would be interested to know what sort of things you would like to see change/improve.

[odium]

i think the starvation (and all of the 'vitals') are very well balanced already.  i do find it silly that you cant sleep 12 hours without dehydrating but they are building within the constructs of game balance, not reality.