Star Citizen's food and drink mechanics - new datamined info

Thalstan

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Have not been able to watch the video, but...
if food is a buff mechanic and not a nerf/die mechanic (WoW vs EQ), I am ok with it. Even if it’s a nerf/die mechanic, I am ok with it provided it’s one that will be cheap and easy to find/carry foods that will let you survive easily.

the while the most realistic is “you need food to survive and better food gives you buffs”, I think a better way for gameplay would be “simple food and nutrition is always available as pellet concentrated foods are light and people can survive on them for months. However, real food allows you to perform better, increasing baseline stamina, makes medi-pens more effective, and lowers the baseline amount of air you consume because you are eating as intended instead of relying on pills. (Buff but no nerf scenario)
 

Thalstan

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I can’t see those on the McDonald’s menu.

 

invalidData

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Have not been able to watch the video, but...
if food is a buff mechanic and not a nerf/die mechanic (WoW vs EQ), I am ok with it. Even if it’s a nerf/die mechanic, I am ok with it provided it’s one that will be cheap and easy to find/carry foods that will let you survive easily.

the while the most realistic is “you need food to survive and better food gives you buffs”, I think a better way for gameplay would be “simple food and nutrition is always available as pellet concentrated foods are light and people can survive on them for months. However, real food allows you to perform better, increasing baseline stamina, makes medi-pens more effective, and lowers the baseline amount of air you consume because you are eating as intended instead of relying on pills. (Buff but no nerf scenario)
I agree with some of what you say but not with all:
If any mechanic can buff then it has to have a nerf counter part to balance things and we need an alcohol debuff.
I agree with you on the cheap to find and carry aspect and I find your idea of food pills interesting.
Additionally to what you said I would balance them so that if you only eat pills for a longer time you get debuffs and less nutrition until you eat some "real" food.
 

SoloFlyer

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So it looks like eating being necessary for survival is what they are looking to go with in 3.9. They mention the amount of time being several real life hours but I'm hoping that they mean real life hours of "played" time. I don't want to have a week where I'm too busy to log in only to find that when I get back my character is dead from scurvy.

 

maynard

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so if we gotta stop and eat every so often I assume we're gonna have to stop to shit too

too much realism isn't necessarily a good thing

it's not 'immersive' if it interferes with gameplay
 

Vashpede

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I personally love survival mechanics and am excited about all of it, including the toilet. They did mention in the AMA that if you log out you will be back where you left off when you log back in as far as status effects go, so I do not believe these effects and statuses continue when your character is offline.
 

SoloFlyer

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As a member of TEST, you are fully covered by Montoyacare. If you die, it will be from friendly fire, not scurvy.
Montoyacare for all!

so if we gotta stop and eat every so often I assume we're gonna have to stop to shit too

too much realism isn't necessarily a good thing

it's not 'immersive' if it interferes with gameplay
Now that you mention it, probably. The first thing that popped in my head when you mentioned that was the Idris mission @Montoya brought up in the SoTS 40. Getting 50 people organized and actually doing the job would be herculean, that just is the nature of gaming, but if you've also got to make sure your character doesn't have to take a dump between setup and mission complete? I'm ok with getting past the starvation mechanic by eating a dense energy bar now and again but I agree that too much realism will probably end up being detrimental. Unless we can all agree that when someone calls a "Brown Alert" on their ship they're ok to take their character back to the nearest station and drop the kids off at the pool without hard feelings.
 

Phil

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A little glimpse in the last p4k file into what they are thinking about food and drink:

Ok I stopped the video and answered this,

For me I think most people hear food and drink, survival and automatically feel this is a survival game, if this is the case and we have to eat food three times a day, hydrate dozens of times a day then count me out. If this is buff based food and merely acts a buff or situational then fine I could care less, if this is situational like certain planets, atmospheres etc... ok call it immersion I can live with it, if its a weekly thing fine I could care less.

Again if this is a tedious grinding thing that you have to do multiple times per gaming experience example …. if I log in for 6 hrs and have to eat and drink multiple times to not die then absolutely no I would not support this, if I have to eat every few days or something ok I can live with it and call it immersion.

Just my 2 cents.
 

Phil

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After watching the video I have to say one thing, this game, the magnitude, the detail, the micromanaging of everything, who are they targeting with this game?

Seriously, logging into the game, now I have to eat, drink, what's next exercise? See my shrink? Take the kids to school? I understand the immersion and detail they are going for but this brings up serious questions.

Look, most people on average get about 2-6 hours of uninterrupted gameplay these days, who wants to log in, do all this tedious stuff, then pick a mission, assuming we have multiple systems a simple cargo run could easily run 2 hours start to finish when you add in these other features, systems and mechanics, the level of immersion they are going for is so deep and tedious most people cant commit to extended hours of gameplay unless its their day off and even then we all have families etc... I can't help but feel many players will be turned off by this game merely on the thought of having to commit to hours of gameplay just to do one mission.

Now don't get me wrong, I love immersion, this is right up my alley, that being said even I couldn't commit 4 or 6 hours uninterrupted with the exception of my day off, at most when I am working I may get 2-3 hours of gameplay, I can tell you, if I have to spend time in prison because of some broken law system, have to spend time eating and drinking so I wont die then this game becomes to much of a daily grind and eventually it will send many players packing or simply only logging on when they can sink X amount of hours into the game.

People keep comparing this game to WoW and think their going to get millions of players, I have my doubts about this, WoW was successful for one major reason, it was easy, it was simple, it had something for everyone, it didn't take a 1500$ rig to run it and you didn't have to sink hours upon hours (unless you were a hardcore raider) to enjoy the game, yes WoW has its issues I have been playing it since the original alpha/beta myself but I feel like CIG is targeting a very select small group of players with this type of gameplay which is fine but then don't expect everyone to be on board with it and it wont meet nearly the numbers of EVE or WoW if it simply targets hardcore space sim/ survival players which is what this game is right now.
 
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SoloFlyer

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QUOTE from Erin Roberts...........
"Every 2 or 3 days, you might lose STAMINA" (not DEATH)
View: https://youtu.be/n-ToRKZkJdI?t=903
They must have changed their minds since that video, the spectrum link above is from today (or yesterday depending on where you are). They mention the possibility of dying from starvation in an official reply.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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They mention the possibility of dying from starvation in an official reply.
And keeping Perma-Death? Sod that, I'm going on Hunger Strike (in game).

With one hand they provide literally millions of miles of play space to travel, explore and enjoy the glory of almost-infinity.
With the other hand they implement a requirement were you cant travel further than the distance you can get from the nearest eatery or you die forever.

Heh, maybe i'm over reacting and they'll have 1950's style meal-tablets in packs of 48 like Rennies, which will be as simple as "press F not to die this play session" and it'll be as simple as buying a new packet of Nutri-tabs every month.

What happens if you go to prison and die of starvation? Are they at fault for not feeding you?
 
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invalidData

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so if we gotta stop and eat every so often I assume we're gonna have to stop to shit too
Unless we can all agree that when someone calls a "Brown Alert" on their ship they're ok to take their character back to the nearest station and drop the kids off at the pool without hard feelings.
For me I think most people hear food and drink, survival and automatically feel this is a survival game, if this is the case and we have to eat food three times a day, hydrate dozens of times a day then count me out.
Look, most people on average get about 2-6 hours of uninterrupted gameplay these days, who wants to log in, do all this tedious stuff, then pick a mission, assuming we have multiple systems a simple cargo run could easily run 2 hours start to finish when you add in these other features, systems and mechanics, the level of immersion they are going for is so deep and tedious most people cant commit to extended hours of gameplay unless its their day off and even then we all have families etc... I can't help but feel many players will be turned off by this game merely on the thought of having to commit to hours of gameplay just to do one mission.
Guys relax, you wont have to eat and shit every 5 minutes to survive!
You get snack bars and stuff like that. You can easily consume those items in the pilot chair or wherever you like.
Every bigger ship has toilets, so where is the problem in taking a dump in quantum travel where you don't have anyting else to do?
When you talk of cargo runs they will get longer the moment they put in physicalised inventory, because someone has to put all the cargo inside your ship manually,
perfect oppurtunity to choose some lunch in the space station.
 

Crymsan

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I can see the point of needing stuff to go and explore (or long range mining trips whatever)..... just realistic can be a chore and work which only a few will enjoy. It will also be another negative when people spend hours flying to one planet effectively doing nothing and then have to fly back to eat etc, i.e. this will add to the travel time complaints. Not speaking personally since I do not bother to log in to the "alpha".
 

Lienna

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My first reaction to the food/drink stuff was negative.

But I spent 1 hour playing SC this morning and I'd guess 10-15 minutes of that was spent in quantum. The game needs things to do during QT and if its get up off your chair, head to the kitchenette and have a microwave meal and glass of recycled water then so be it!


It also adds to the design of small vs large ships. A gladius has no interior, so all you can carry is a canteen and some energy bars. Fine for a patrol, but no good for long distance without a carrier to land on to restock.

Move on to a long range fighter like the vanguard, you have a living space with room to store enough food and drink for long hauls, you don't have the supplies for a proper meal, but it's good enough.

The big ships like a reclaimer have full blown dining tables, expect nutritious meals that give buffs and make you perform better, and you have enough scu on board to store months worth if you need it.

They still could screw this up and make it a pain to do, but done right this could not only help with immersion, but encourage multi crew activities and intelligent ship selections for missions!
 
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