Protein Poisoning

[tdgillies]

I wouldn't mind seeing a "Trapper Starvation" or protein poisoning mechanic in the game.

I am living kind of pretty at Pleasant Valley Farmhouse as many others likely are too, there is, plenty of deer to shoot and rabbit to trap.

However eating to much protein, particularly game meat that doesn't have much fat to break down the protein is your kidneys start to get overloaded and you can get a form of blood poisoning which can shut down organs and you can go into shock.

I would love to see a mechanic where; if you don't supplement your protein with say either wild edibles (maybe introduce another one or two kinds to forage) or things that have some various fats and carbs like candy, granola bars, crackers or cat tail stalks after approximately 12 days of solid meat consumption you would start to have your condition go down with your character saying: "Hurts when I pee" and "Don't feel like eating any more meat".

Food Fatigue is also a condition people can suffer from too, World War 2 they found people who had starved to death because the only thing they had to eat was corn or beans and they just stopped eating or vomited it up. But I don't think we need to go that far as Protein Poisoning fits more with the North Canadian survival lore as it was a fur trapper ailment and kinda fits in giving an offset to hunting/trapping all the time.

Thoughts?

[Rehamk]

This I have wondered myself, eating nothing but meat surely would make us ill in some way. adding in an additional natural food source like you say berries or the like would be good as all there is available currently are cat tails.

Although 74 days in and I do still have lots of granola bars, candy bars, crackers, jerky etc and I haven't even been to Pleasant Valley yet.

[Scyzara]

You can eat as much meat as you want without suffering from rabbit starvation as long as the meat contains enough fat. Only very lean meat (like e.g. chicken, turkey or rabbit) can cause a protein poisoning.

Take the Inuit for example. Their traditional diet almost exclusively consisted of seal meat, walrus meat, whale meat and fish and they never suffered from rabbit starvation (or malnutrition) as these meats contain quite a lot of fat and also all kinds of vitamins.

I'm pretty sure this is also true for bear meat and wolf meat (and possibly even deer meat). Not sure about the latter, though.

Anyway, more edible berries (or at least edible rose hips) would be nice, +1 for that idea.

[tdgillies]

Yeah fair enough, rabbit starvation tends to happen with lean game meat and bear does have some good fat on it but complications with the kidneys can still happen if meat is not supplemented with some kind of vegetable matter.

I was more thinking it could be good at the extremes as another mechanic of survival to overcome but honestly maybe it doesn't need much implementation. Maybe for Stalker mode

[EliteForce Qc]

I was thinking about Calories .. can the caracter who pass long time with plenty calories can transform it in fat. Yeah in fat .. reserve calories and why not .. +1°C warmth bonus lol

[EternityTide]

Unfortunately, pure meat diets, or high meat diets are quite bad for you, as they result in excess production of urea in the body, resulting in gout (uric acid crystal build up). The human gut is mainly designed for an omnivorous diet favouring vegetable matter, as evidenced by our longer gut and molar teeth.

[Gaboris]

Although I always like a more complex food system that say contains protein, fat, fiber and calories (MAYBE vitamins, but even I say that there's a limit) balancing, I'm not sure something like this would fit the game.

Even this simplified system where you'd only have to balance two or just not let one overflow besides calories could tip the game out of its balance or at least for me this game is about manageable realism. Keeping stats and conditions as simple as not to dumb them down, but I'd wait for some more coherent ideas before saying yay or nay.

ALTHOUGH! +1 on the more edible plants.

Though my inner child prefers to have new stuff instead of making the already harvestable berries, lichen and mushrooms edible I'd say even those would work.

[Aelaera]

Anyway, more edible berries (or at least edible rose hips) would be nice, +1 for that idea.

+1. I would love to find some blackberries up in the woods whilst I'm freezing to death.

If it would be possible to implement it could be really cool to also have poisonous berries that instantly cause food poisoning. This could tie in to finding or having pamphlets, books, etc. in the Rangers Cabin (ML) , Gas Station (CH) and Farmstead (PV) which contain survival hints or tips. The mentioned literature could have "Pokeberries are extremely poisonous and should not be confused with the wild blueberries in the area. Pokeberries can be identified by their purplish stem and do not grow in tight gathered clusters like blueberries" as a hint as what is safe and what is not to eat. Players can choose to either actively seek out these hints, or just rely on the old fashioned saying "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger... or at least teaches you not to put strange things in your mouth."