Fishing and cooking - GUIDE

[Besto Telesto]

I'm relatively new to the game, and I understand there is a lot of polishing going on. That being said, there is an issue I've come acrossed.

I gear up rather quickly to a crew of 5-6 where I then spend a lot of time. At this point, I find it hard to advance to a better crew/ship.

Anyway, my issue is with starvation. Specifically with my fisherman starving. I usually leave 2 or 3 fish prepared(not in barrels). That is usually enough for them to eat before it spoils. My fisherman won't stop fishing to eat. I either have to put down enough fish that all of my other crew won't eat it all and there will be multiple fish on the deck that isn't touched for multiple seconds, or I have to take the fishing pole out of his hand so that he doesn't have a task assigned and he chooses to eat.

If I have 1 available food source(sometimes 2) he won't eat while holding a fishing pole. But if I have 3+ he will. I've also noticed that my other crew will kind of just eat whenever, my fisherman gets pretty low before I put down a ton of food so that he will eat.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, but it's something that I wish I didn't have to micromanage like I do.
My suggestion would be that if the fisherman's hunger was lower than something like 30% he prioritizes eating over fishing.
So here is my comment. Maybe you'll relate, maybe you won't.



Edit: Issue resolved by barrels. I was getting to a point that barrels were needed.

[Unkil Olaf]

You have to cook the fish

[Ogmok]

you can stack 10 fish (= 20 servings) in one barrel and prepare it inside the barrel, too (equip a chef knife accessory if you want better food). This will reduce a lot of micromanagement.

Someone in this forum mentioned that it's good to have 1 fisherman for 3 crew members (including himself).

[Patricia Hapon]

Yeah, 1 fisher for 3 members is the ratio I had to keep precisely because of this.

When your crew start growing some we'll starve even if you've food.

That's because they eat when they're under 50%, when going out of a tavern they'll most likely start eating in the boat, so you'll have a hard time feeding everyone, even more when sailing for a long time.

In this case with a 6 members' crew you've two fishermen, so if one start starving and you've to take off the pole the other can keep fishing and you don't loose your income of food.
Same if you've the bug of the "infinite launching pole", one is buggy while the other keep fishing.

[Besto Telesto]

I'll try the barrel technique, but it comes down to me having to have more food than is needed down and the fisherman just waits too long.

[Patricia Hapon]

If you feel you've too much food just sell it, as for how long fisher need, it's depending of their "luck" stat.
For now a crew member alone must take two share of food, so a fish for himself. You should try to keep at least a whole barrel of food for them to eat ... Actually two barrels would be best (and as they cost only 10GP it's no biggies)

[deadcantdance]

You can stock fish? How? Meat or Melons work well for me, but fish not? Have to try it again.

[Besto Telesto]

You need to have a crewmember with an available TP, buy and teach him fishing. Give him a fishing pole. He will catch fish(he will have a fishing pole icon in crew page).
Have a second crewmember with an available TP, buy and teach him cooking. He will now prepare fish. Fish can be found in the Ship Setup under food. Place it on your deck.

Uncooked fish can be placed in an empty barrel up to ten times(ten fish). Your cook will then prepare the fish on the deck or in the barrel(it takes much longer if you have ten in the barrel).

[Poobah Gorg]

Which shop sells barrels? I had them in an earlier save of the game, I can't seem to find them in the last two games I've played.

[Ogmok]

it's in the ship item shop, but not every shop got them. They can be found in lvl 1 or 2 towns already, just visit a few of them until you find the barrel (they cost 10g each).

Cooking 10 raw fish (=20 meals) in a barrel takes longer than cooking one raw fish, that's true; but the cooked fish in the barrel can be consumed before the rest is done; and it's faster to cook 10 fish in one spot than placing 10 of them on different planks on the ship.