Mod request / Idea - Food rations
Maurvir
Member Posts: 1,093
How difficult would it be to implement the need for food rations? I have been thinking on this more, and it seems like it would add it would add an additional layer of role-playing flavor if you also had to occasionally buy food for your trips. I know Lava's mods already introduce food as potions, so this would be something similar.
The idea here would be that every party NPC, including the PC, has a permanent "curse" that causes increasing fatigue, and eventually loss of CON, the longer they go without food. Eventually, the NPC "starves to death" when their CON reaches 0. The only "antidote" is a "food potion", or possibly a cleric restoration spell for emergencies. Except unlike a normal antidote, food only partially restores the NPCs states based on the type of food.
To keep it simple, only implement preserved foods that won't go immediately bad (avoiding the need for expiring foods) Perhaps call them things like jerkied meat, dried fruit, "lembas bread" or something. Then, stock them with food vendors in the various towns. There is, in fact a food vendor in Waukeen's promenade already that could be used as the store. Food vendors should probably be in the Umar Hills village, Trademeet, Saradush, and Amkethran, as well as Athkatla. Any bartender should also sell these foods.
For even more flavor, stock the foods wherever cooks/kitchens are present as loot.
The idea here would be that every party NPC, including the PC, has a permanent "curse" that causes increasing fatigue, and eventually loss of CON, the longer they go without food. Eventually, the NPC "starves to death" when their CON reaches 0. The only "antidote" is a "food potion", or possibly a cleric restoration spell for emergencies. Except unlike a normal antidote, food only partially restores the NPCs states based on the type of food.
To keep it simple, only implement preserved foods that won't go immediately bad (avoiding the need for expiring foods) Perhaps call them things like jerkied meat, dried fruit, "lembas bread" or something. Then, stock them with food vendors in the various towns. There is, in fact a food vendor in Waukeen's promenade already that could be used as the store. Food vendors should probably be in the Umar Hills village, Trademeet, Saradush, and Amkethran, as well as Athkatla. Any bartender should also sell these foods.
For even more flavor, stock the foods wherever cooks/kitchens are present as loot.
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This is the reason I hate hunger mods in TES games. It quickly devolves to a repetitive system where one is forced to enter the menu to click on a food item on schedule just so you can continue to play the game.
Also, were I coding this, I would probably have it set so that the party could go for a while without eating. Sleeping is already unrealistic, so perhaps set it so that hunger affects on fatigue only begin after, say, two or three game days or so, and maybe a week before CON changes begin. This should alleviate the problem of arriving at a new area already suffering the effects. (Obviously, any scripted event, like sailing, should be exempted.) This could also make trips to taverns more appealing.
I hadn't thought about hunting, but yeah, bears, wolves, rabbits, etc. could have food items added to them. The problem is, I don't think those respawn by default.
I dunno, maybe it would make it tedious, but I feel like it should be possible to introduce this element without making it so.
Next, there are also IWD mods that add such items. There is a secret item in my Tale of Our Lady Dreamless that can produce food, so if you were to make this mod work on more games than BG2, then spotting all food items would become even harder.
Then, there is the Good Berries spell, that is INTENDED to remove hunger, that's what the spell is for in D&D. You would need to rebuild it. And what you do, would become incompatible with all mods that tweak Good Berries and I believe there are such mods, IIRC.
Next, the game does not include eating options in taverns, so adding such an option would get rid of one "hole" and create another one: there is food in the game, but none of the inns, taverns, or pubs offer anything to eat while having drinks in the menu. So... yeah, it would become strange.
I don't mean to discourage you, but Infinity Engine games were not meant to have the food system, and considering what I wrote and what @AionZ mentioned... I believe there is no good way to implement it in a neat way and it's not even worth your energy...
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/6979/would-you-like-to-see-a-hunger-and-thirst-mechanic-added-to-the-game/p1
I always enjoy mods that add more flavor to a game campaign, whether it be increased NPC interaction, interesting items or quests, or thing that slightly change the dynamic of the game.
The idea actually came from a much older RPG (whose name escapes me, but I still have the CDs somewhere) that implemented rations. You would consume rations as you adventured, and if you ran out, you would need to haul back into a nearby village to stock up or learn how to harvest them yourself. I always liked that mechanic, because it added a bit of a check to things - forced you to slow down a bit.
However, you all have some pretty strong arguments against it working in BG/BG2.
I didn't like how Minecraft eventually required eating to heal. I missed the old versions where eating meant instant HP gain. Each version has its perks, but eating reactively to heal was my preference.
Realms Beyond: Ashes of the Fallen is a D&D 3.5 turn-based party-based RPG that requires camping and rations among other things.
That being said I do think restrictions on rest has much more merit as a mod. You are playing a completely different game when resting has limitations.
Yes, it could devolve into just another inventory management task, but it could also result in some really interesting situations, and make taverns more of a "hub" for adventuring.
It's your option to code it. Something somewhat similar was the Out of Commission mod.
If I could, I would.
while your characters do not need to eat, YOU do, we don't want to lose any dedicated players
i think that was a bit of an inside joke about the game and food mechanics
although if you have Jan and Minsc on your team, on one of the times that Jan tries to steal boo Minsc tells Jan to stop stealing boo's crackers because it makes a mess
so it does seem that food exists in bg2, but i suppose it wasn't implemented because the devs probably though it would get in the way of gameplay which i would agree with
in IWD 2 they have "iron rations" which i suppose are food rations ( whats the iron for? ) but at least they heal 3 hp
Nah, that's what all the bushes are for. Just be polite and wander outside the city gates when looking for said bushes.