Long-term starvation (specific mechanic)

[Ragwort]

@ManicManiac

Two main reasons I didn't suggest a change to the fatigue cap:

• I don't know the specifics of how it operates, even after googling and reading the wiki!
• It's important for the player to get temporary relief from starvation by eating. In fact the current fatigue cap does this - even with a lot of the bar being red, it allows you to sleep to full as long as you are above 0 calories. But as a result the mechanic can only encourage eating before sleep, no matter how you tweak it. Moreover, the current way the cap is displayed breaks down if the player had more rest than the cap would normally allow (because they were above 0 cals when resting).

My understanding is that the fatigue cap discourages a specific strategy - that of going multiple days between meals in order to maximize efficiency. I think it succeeds at that, but I don't see a satisfactory way to adapt the cap to a more general purpose.

[Ragwort]

In the spirit of the discussion so far I came up with the following simplification of the effects of this mechanic:

Quote

When the player hits 0 calories, roll Starvation Risk if it is above 40%.
All such rolls for a period of 24 hours have the same result as the first.
On a bad result, the player receives the following affliction:

• Fatigue drain from all activities increased by 100%
• Thirst rate increased by 100%
• Damage from being at 0 calories increased to 3% per hour

The affliction is cured by consuming calories.

The sprinting penalty seemed too short-term to fit with the rest, so I replaced it with dehydration which is an actual symptom of prolonged starvation. Instead of three levels of affliction, there's now just one - but the longer the player continues to starve, the more frequently they experience the symptoms.

Edited to add:

To avoid proliferation of mechanics, you could - if desired - roll the fatigue cap into this as well. Simply have the fatigue cap increase while the affliction is active, instead of after being at 0 calories for a certain number of hours (or whatever the trigger actually is for the fatigue cap)

Edited December 15, 2020 by Ragwort