Butchers and pigs

[GaffOz]

If I understand correctly butchers only slaughter sheep? Pigs/goats generate meat at 2/1 per 150 days regardless of whether you have a butcher? This seems to make pigs and goats hardly worth the effort.

[Blackmage]

I agree, 150 days for 2 units of meat is very "meh." However, if you look at the alternative, say chickens produced 2 eggs every month. Then chickens might be overpowered and pigs and goats would be an even worse bet.
I think the idea is you'll invest in goats and pigs if you're investing deep into the foraging category of the development tree. Advanced skinning doubles all meat production.
There is definitely some balancing to be had here.

[GaffOz]

Originally posted by Blackmage:

I agree, 150 days for 2 units of meat is very "meh." However, if you look at the alternative, say chickens produced 2 eggs every month. Then chickens might be overpowered and pigs and goats would be an even worse bet.
I think the idea is you'll invest in goats and pigs if you're investing deep into the foraging category of the development tree. Advanced skinning doubles all meat production.
There is definitely some balancing to be had here.

Fair call. I just think a butcher should give you an advantage, like a bakery does over a communal oven. Surely a butcher should do a better job of butchering than a householder?

[Blackmage]

Originally posted by GaffOz:

Originally posted by Blackmage:

I agree, 150 days for 2 units of meat is very "meh." However, if you look at the alternative, say chickens produced 2 eggs every month. Then chickens might be overpowered and pigs and goats would be an even worse bet.
I think the idea is you'll invest in goats and pigs if you're investing deep into the foraging category of the development tree. Advanced skinning doubles all meat production.
There is definitely some balancing to be had here.

Fair call. I just think a butcher should give you an advantage, like a bakery does over a communal oven. Surely a butcher should do a better job of butchering than a householder?

The butcher probably should have a greater benefit, but such is the nature of EA, we get to bear witness the lows of game design. But for that same reason, we must be careful with our judgement because we may be missing something.

The butcher can create sausage if you have salt. I haven't tried this yet, as it seems like a lot of extra effort. All I can say is give it a try and see if trying to make it work actually works. If it doesn't work, then you are armed with the knowledge it doesn't work over a hypothesis.

[Jabberwocky]

Originally posted by Blackmage:

Originally posted by GaffOz:

The butcher can create sausage if you have salt. I haven't tried this yet, as it seems like a lot of extra effort. All I can say is give it a try and see if trying to make it work actually works. If it doesn't work, then you are armed with the knowledge it doesn't work over a hypothesis.

Correction: The butcher can create sausage if you have a rich salt deposit and the "deep mining" development point unlocked. Otherwise he can only create sausage for about 1 year, maybe 1 and a half. Then he becomes useless. And a whole food group disappears from your village. And yet every map I rolled so far has exactly zero (0) rich salt deposits.

And I'm not importing salt to make sausage.

[Didz]

Originally posted by GaffOz:

If I understand correctly butchers only slaughter sheep? Pigs/goats generate meat at 2/1 per 150 days regardless of whether you have a butcher? This seems to make pigs and goats hardly worth the effort.

That was my conclusion after testing to confirm the production rate of animal pens. They are a complete waste of space and silver.