What do Pots do?

[iwasa]

In my Pre-update Pilgrim sandbox, I have the recycled can and have made more from canned goods. Figured out what it can do, at least for making water, worked out how to efficiently do cooking and water-making side-by-side.

In Desolation, Crumbling, Coastal, and now in Crossroads of Pleasant Valley, I have not found a single pot anywhere (nor a can drop for that matter). Other than being a larger make water utensil, is there anything else that it can do that I can't do directly on a cooking surface or with a recycled can?

I do not think so, but thought I'd ask.

[sockpuppet12421]

You can cook meats in them and make more water at a time (2 litters?).

[Will]

This is where I found pots:

2 at farmhouse in PV. One at dam, from lower entry in the shelf on the left as you enter. One at lake office and one at trapper's in ML, two at Grey Ma's house, one (2?) at Paradise Meadows farm, two in two different houses in Milton (sorry forgot which ones).

[Will]

And there is also a spawn at the lookout In ML.

[ajb1978]

You can "make" your own recycled can by opening a can properly and eating the contents. Just don't smash them open or you can't keep them. Other than that, look for houses that have wood-burning stoves inside, and there will usually be a pot somewhere nearby. Trappers had one on the floor right next to it, the PV Farmstead had one on the counter, and Paradise Meadows had one in the sink.

[sockpuppet12421]

Does the pot shorten cooking time on meat?

[Will]

Originally posted by sockpuppet12421:

Does the pot shorten cooking time on meat?

I believe so.

[ajb1978]

Originally posted by sockpuppet12421:

Does the pot shorten cooking time on meat?

It shortens the time by 10% if my memory is correct. It's mostly useful for quickly boiling water, since you can do 2L at a time, instead of 0.5L in a can.

[pbmax]

Originally posted by ajb1978:

Originally posted by sockpuppet12421:

Does the pot shorten cooking time on meat?

It shortens the time by 10% if my memory is correct. It's mostly useful for quickly boiling water, since you can do 2L at a time, instead of 0.5L in a can.

Beat me to it. My steak went from 1h24m to 1h07m. 2L water, but I don't remember the time it takes. I think it's over an hour.

[Carbon]

They make your pack weigh more and comparatively restrict your ability to make water. They are unnecessary for cooking anything else.

[ajb1978]

Originally posted by Carbon:

They make your pack weigh more and comparatively restrict your ability to make water. They are unnecessary for cooking anything else.

They're useful to collect and deposit at your "home base" when you're ready to dig in for the long haul, but agreed carrying them from map to map as part of your expedition gear is inadvisable. I mean you may as well use them if they're available. They don't chew up space in your backpack if you leave them on a stove.

Being able to boil 2 liters of water at a crack is very handy though, because you don't have to keep emptying out that recycled can. You can literally do it while you sleep. Set 2 liters of water on the stove, sleep for 2 hours, and your water is done. Repeat until dawn, and then not only are you fully rested, you've got 10-12 liters of water out of it. If you're like me and make huge stashes of water ahead of time, off just one match, you can keep this process going for days if you want. As long as you have food to eat and fuel for the fire, you can keep your little water factory going.

(If you're fully rested, you can even use your 2-hour window to gather up some sticks, bag a deer, or something.)

[iwasa]

Okay, not much more than I would have assumed. I am getting along with the recycled cans. Looking forward to finding a pot somewhere. Given two major regions and nothing I am not too hopeful.

This sandbox is pre-VF update so may be jinxed like my pre-story mode sandbox where the aurora never showed and I had to start another sandbox just to get to see it.

[Carbon]

Originally posted by ajb1978:

Originally posted by Carbon:

They make your pack weigh more and comparatively restrict your ability to make water. They are unnecessary for cooking anything else.

They're useful to collect and deposit at your "home base" when you're ready to dig in for the long haul, but agreed carrying them from map to map as part of your expedition gear is inadvisable. I mean you may as well use them if they're available. They don't chew up space in your backpack if you leave them on a stove.

Being able to boil 2 liters of water at a crack is very handy though, because you don't have to keep emptying out that recycled can. You can literally do it while you sleep. Set 2 liters of water on the stove, sleep for 2 hours, and your water is done. Repeat until dawn, and then not only are you fully rested, you've got 10-12 liters of water out of it. If you're like me and make huge stashes of water ahead of time, off just one match, you can keep this process going for days if you want. As long as you have food to eat and fuel for the fire, you can keep your little water factory going.

(If you're fully rested, you can even use your 2-hour window to gather up some sticks, bag a deer, or something.)

I preferred the option to boil 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5 litres of water in one go (enough for a day or two), but sure, now I can not only spend more time waiting for that amount, but also potentially triple the interactions and increase the clicks from 1 for 5 litres to 3 per every 2.

Multitasking is risky without a method of monitoring the time. Cooking times are very specific, measured in minutes by the fire, but we have no such measure away from the fire. And with cans and pots degrading if left unattended as well as water boiling away/food becoming inedible, one really is in a position of having to babysit the process. Multitasking also implies that the other actions will be/can be done close to your fire, which isn't always the case. It tethers you to the fire in a very real way.

Many of us play nomadically, as the developers themselves encourage, so the idea of having any permamnent home base at which to leave critical items isn't really an option, since the pot is the only (truly practical) method of getting water now. Using the can does somewhat solve the weight problem, but increases the aforementioned waiting/clicking aspects, making it really only desirable for prepping small amounts of water. The climbing restrictions further compound the weight issue of the pot.

I love the game, but am having a difficult time not seeing the new cooking implementation engaging, but punitive overall. It doesn't line up well with what the community were thinking when discussing the idea of more refined cooking (recipes, new gathering materials) and feels as if the developers were trying to make the system laborious and tedious.

As I have said before, seting cooking aside in this manner doesn't make sense unless all "filling wheel" activities are also candidates for such granularity. If we won't be jiggling the mouse to fish, alternating clicks to chop or click and drag to open, then why do this for cooking? It was simply a means to an end, not an 'activity' and I for one can think of many far more worthy candidates for such interactivity, 'playing house' or furthering immersion.

My first question I posed regarding this was "Why?" and that still has not been answered conclusively.

[child of the girth]

On the other hand, I was passing by milton and brewed up 8 liters of water in 2 hours which was badass, could have been 12 if I wasn't also cooking I guess.

[Lord of Boredom]

I'm in Mountain Town now and I found only one pot in Grey Mother's house. Pre-update save.
Wonder if we can find a crate full of pots somewhere on TMW now.