additional foraging and cooking items

[Stellarbone]

I posted this on the steam forums a few months ago, don't know why I never thought to just come to the official forums. As I said there, I love games that have cooking and foraging systems in place, and The Long Dark has a pretty good one, but as this subforum is for wish lists, here's some items I had hopes would appear in the enhanced cooking update.

 

Chicory Root- While not native, it can be found in western Canada in the wilds, and makes for a coffee substitute.

 

Ptarmigan Eggs- Ptarmigans specifically make nests in snow banks, meaning we would have to do some digging to find the nests but it'd make a good food source.

 

Dulse- Red Dulse or "Sea Lettuce", a red seaweed commonly found along the northern coastlines. I figure it could be added to beach-combing.

 

Tree Syrup Tapping- The Metal Pail that is already in the game could be changed from a scrap item to be used for Tapping trees, along with a tree tapper that would need to be hammered into the tree. Would be good for later game cooking when bottled maple syrup has run out entirely, and could open up some new crafting recipes, as birch and oak trees can be tapped for syrups. Oak sap can be used as an antiseptic, and Birch sap can be drank and used as a syrup, though in winter it flows slowly.

 

Conifer/Pine needles- Can be made into an herbal tea, or even baked into cookies. Good for antioxidants and building up your immune system.

 

Honey- There may be no bees, but honey is a long standing shelf staple. Genuinely never goes bad, but it does solidify, making it more difficult to use. I imagine it'd be a similar food to crackers, where it doesn't spoil but you find it in various states.

 

Pepper/Spices- Honestly just using the salt container but recoloured would be great. Even if its just for cosmetic purposes or to make a meal more enticing.

 

Pemmican- Honestly shocked this one didn't make it in, given Great Bears draw to survivalists. If made right and stored properly Pemmican can last 20 years at least, just with dried meat and fat. Could have berries for a better version.

 

Bone Broth- We waste a lot when it comes to the existing hunting system. We take the meat but we leave the bones, fat, blood. Bone tools and deeper usage of animal parts would be an interesting thing to see, but bone broth alone would be amazing.

 

Wintergreen Teaberries- It would just be nice to have fruit in the game that isn't canned peaches I think. Wintergreen leaves can also be used for a tea with some home remedy tier benefits, headaches and such. The bushes themselves are very small and produce only a few berries so it wouldn't be overwhelming.

[Stranzua]

Some great ideas. I hope they add some more oak trees and maybe even the chance to get 2 or 3 in a patch. On top of the acorn coffee, now they are used in making lures and food. I also wouldn't mind a few more burdock roots. 

 

[Admin]

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback! 

[Semple Fi]

Great ideas! I suggested awhile back in another thread using bone for tools.  Would be a welcome addition to interloper specifically.  
 

Honey would be a good option for additional energy benefits, I would think a rare find though.  
 

Love the wintergreen idea! That stuff is all over my yard already, makes sense.  

[ajb1978]

As long as any new items are renewable. Even if via beachcombing. That's my biggest hang-up on all the new additions, they're one-offs so apart from some early experimentation, the fact that all the recipes are finite, really makes me not want to cook them.

I mean this is beyond even the problem of "I can't start fires forever" because yeah, you kinda can, but these recipes aren't conducive towards the "wait for a sunny day then mag lens up a fire and cook literally everything you have" mentality that I think most of us play towards.

A renewable firestarter would solve half of that problem, come to think of it. Renewable ingredients would solve the other half. Potatoes, carrots, flour, etc. are currently finite.

Edit: I know the original purpose of the game was "survive until you die" but let's be honest, that's not what the game is anymore. It's become a long-term survival game. And we gotta consider that.

Edited July 8, 2023 by ajb1978

[Stellarbone]

13 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

As long as any new items are renewable. Even if via beachcombing. That's my biggest hang-up on all the new additions, they're one-offs so apart from some early experimentation, the fact that all the recipes are finite, really makes me not want to cook them.

I mean this is beyond even the problem of "I can't start fires forever" because yeah, you kinda can, but these recipes aren't conducive towards the "wait for a sunny day then mag lens up a fire and cook literally everything you have" mentality that I think most of us play towards.

A renewable firestarter would solve half of that problem, come to think of it. Renewable ingredients would solve the other half. Potatoes, carrots, flour, etc. are currently finite.

Edit: I know the original purpose of the game was "survive until you die" but let's be honest, that's not what the game is anymore. It's become a long-term survival game. And we gotta consider that.

Agreed. Green Hell has a lot of good firestarter kits you can make. I'd personally like to see one of them in TLD.

[ajb1978]

Shortly after the beachcombing adjustments I actually had a dream where one of those shipping containers from TWM had washed up in Coastal Highway, and was full of rare loot. That would be a perfectly feasible way to introduce renewable ingredients. Can of corn or peaches, maple syrup, and of course potatoes/carrots/etc. Obviously having an independent bag of flour wash up is not gonna make any kind of sense since it would be useless, but having an airtight shipping container wash up? Logical.