Food/Water

[Utildayael]

How's the food and water balance in EA release? I played one of the first demos [and missed the later ones] and it felt like you just perpetually ran around looking for food/drink all the time and it went REAL fast. I know the devs took that as feedback but just wasnt sure if it was "improved" since?

[LoboFH]

I am playing on Normal and it looks fine.

[Natjur]

I play on Permanent Death mode and no issues with food/water
(all other modes, you can just jump off a cliff to get food/water/sleep back)

[Zordah]

My first impression trying to learn the game on Normal (my first playthrough) was food and water drain way too fast

[DeLindsay]

Poked around a bit about an hour ago on Normal and I'm constantly having to get Food/Water. BUT, that's because I'm so early in the game right now that I haven't even left the 1st platform and I know there are larger Water Bottles later and probably superior ways to feed yourself.

I'd say it has the feel of every Survival game in the very beginning, you're always scrambling to meet your needs early on.

[Smartik1]

I also feel like water/food drain way too fast, at least at the beginning. Only got to the first 2 locations so far, but like 90% of my time is spent trying to keep stats up. By the time you make water/food, you need sleep. By the time you finish sleeping, you need food and water. It's a really painful loop inflating play time. Would be cool to get custom drain settings or difficulty change mid playthrough.

[DeLindsay]

Originally posted by Smartik1:

I also feel like water/food drain way too fast, at least at the beginning. Only got to the first 2 locations so far, but like 90% of my time is spent trying to keep stats up. By the time you make water/food, you need sleep. By the time you finish sleeping, you need food and water. It's a really painful loop inflating play time. Would be cool to get custom drain settings or difficulty change mid playthrough.

Without giving too many spoilers, you'll get the ability to passively gather Water within a few locations and a superior Insect Trap as well. It makes Hunger/Thirst far easier to maintain.

I'd wager it'll be EVEN easier the further we get into the game. It's pretty much par for course in Survival games, the 1st few hours are brutal as you're always out of this or that material and having to continuously farm it until it becomes automated to a point.

[Zyphrexi]

it's balanced pretty well honestly. the 'cost' of food and water is a resource that you can quickly amass, and later water is much easier to come by even in large quantities. I think i have around 60 units of water?

[Greymantle]

I played my first game on hard found the food water system to be nothing but busy work. I shifted to normal and find it a better balance between busy work and other stuff to do.

[Smartik1]

Originally posted by Zyphrexi:

it's balanced pretty well honestly. the 'cost' of food and water is a resource that you can quickly amass, and later water is much easier to come by even in large quantities. I think i have around 60 units of water?

There are a few differences to other games:
1. The need to sleep which also drains your thirst/hunger. You also need to sleep pretty frequently here compared to The Forest (rarely), Raft (never), Subnautica (never).
2. Expiration timers on food compared to The Forest (infinite consumables never), Raft (never), Subnautica (never if you keep fish alive prior to cooking when needed + has plants that also never expire). Here even the pre-cooked item has expiration, same for post-cooked.
3. The number of steps to obtain them is also higher due to food "bait" needing re-crafting as well as water collectors needing re-crafting (basically 2 machines + disappearing component instead of 1 for water).

The extra drain through sleep, expiration and time needed due to machine maintenance makes this more time consuming than the other survival games, which gives you less time to do other stuff.

Anyway will play more to see how much easier it gets over time, but early on it's definitely a lot more time consuming than the others just to exist.

['Strict]

Once you find the coffee and the blue flowers you don't really have to sleep.
Water purifier = never need to look for water again.

Water purifying bottle (haven't crafted this since I didn't see the need) will make it even less of a problem (I guess this item is for super long treks into the Underdust)....but for longer trips you need lots of Crystal batteries or an upgrade to inventory space and/or oxygen tank upgrade.


But to be fair...I've never had a problem with food or water in the game as soon as I left the first platform, baits are super easy to make and the water filter thingie for the dirty water is also really easy to make.

[DeLindsay]

Originally posted by Smartik1:

2. Expiration timers on food compared to The Forest (infinite consumables never), Raft (never), Subnautica (never if you keep fish alive prior to cooking when needed + has plants that also never expire). Here even the pre-cooked item has expiration, same for post-cooked.

You'll find something that makes the expiration of Food much less painful. I'm just 6 hours in, haven't found Polymer yet, which means I can't even craft that thing to make it less annoying but it still doesn't bother me much.

The key is to only fish when you need Food (less than 50% Hunger since Fat Moth gives +60%). Fish once or twice, depending on your luck of catch then you're good for a while without having to bother with expiration timers.

You'll also get somethings that makes collecting & purifying Water completely AFK. I have just 2 sets of (5) Bottles on me, 1 set for purified, 1 set or dirty. Once you get those 2 things, you'll understand why I do it that way.

[Illuminia]

To add to the other good ideas and notes in the thread..... good time management helps too.

I have a deck Extractor (manual one) near my Lure - so when I send it to fish for food I can gather some materials. Just listen for the sound of it catching something.

When you cook what you catch? Take a little nap - no point waiting for it to finish cooking. Again, if the bed is nearby, you can hear the food finish cooking. (or watch for the status text).
Same thing for longer crafting times in the fabricator (circuit boards).

Also, always try to have clean water in a purifier, ready to grab and gulp.... and dirty water on-hand to load back into the purifier so it can start another dose.
+1 to the above poster's suggestion of always having two bottles in inventory (Clean water, Dirty water).


Water becomes less of an issue once you have a few rain collectors, and large bottles.

Hunger / Energy aren't as bad with the "Nap while cooking" tactic. (don't try this at home!). ..... but get used to living off of dust moths and suspicious floating lettuce. X.x

[Utildayael]

Thanks folks. Seems to have changed a bit at least for the better as first demo came out and it was nearly 100% "I hate this" ... :)