Why do I starve faster than I can eat?

[Frizz]

I understand that its a game and all. I am also aware that I am not a humming bird and that the food I eat should last longer than a few hours.

Also why do I starve faster than I dehydrate?

These two mechanics seem way out of whack for a game striving to be a some what realistic survival game.

The least immediate concern in any survival situation is food, Yet it's the top of the list in this game?

The 3 rules of 3 are well known in survival training.


You can live 3 hours without shelter.
You can live 3 days without water.
You can live 3 weeks without food.

The game would be much more intuitive if it followed some of the logical real world rules.

[Noah]

woah wait what 3 hours without shelter xD i can watch clouds in a feild without shelter for 3 hours and be fine

[local AMD sellout]

where do you find rope at i can never find it and then i die

[xaagon]

Originally posted by Ghostmaurader:

where do you find rope at i can never find it and then i die

Use your knife on a yucca plant.

[Tarrant220]

I agree you stave way too quickly. I get you need to stay hydrated as it's over 100 degrees and sunny but starving in less than a day seems silly.

[netcoder1]

Originally posted by NoahItAll:

woah wait what 3 hours without shelter xD i can watch clouds in a feild without shelter for 3 hours and be fine

This rule applies to harsh environments, like very cold ones, or very hot ones. Probably not your backyard. ;-)

It applies to my backyard at this time of the year though...

[morph113]

I don't get the 3 hours without shelter as well. It probably means the environment but it really depends where, the temperature, wind, the kind of clothing you wear, if it rains or not etc. You can't just say 3 hours.

But yeah, hunger should definitely always decrease slower than thirst, in any game. But I do not like to put realistic values on it like 3 weeks without food. What kind of boring survival game would that be. You eat something and then you good to not eat for a few ingame weeks? For gameplay sakes, it has to have a somewhat unrealistic food/water intake or else the whole survival aspect would be gone. Imagine playing a survival game like this and you only have to eat once in like 15 hours playtime. Speeding up the day/night cycle to keep it realistic would also be bad. Except you like having 5 minute day and 5 minute night cycles.

[netcoder1]

Originally posted by morph113:

I don't get the 3 hours without shelter as well. It probably means the environment but it really depends where, the temperature, wind, the kind of clothing you wear, if it rains or not etc. You can't just say 3 hours

3 hours in the hot sun of the Pacific without shades (shades created by some sort of shelter, be it man-made of trees and stuff) and you're pretty much done for.

3 hours at -40C without anything to protect you from the wind, and you're pretty much done for.

That's what the the 3 hours without shelter means. It doesn't have to be the Taj Mahal, but protecting yourself from cold winds, snow, rain and sun is really that important in a survival situation. The more you wait, the more you lose energy fighting the elements, and the less energy you have left scavenging for other resources like water and food. You can't hunt or build a still when you're unconscious.

[Funk]

I agree with you.

You can survive three weeks without food, but your probably going to be pretty weak and usless after 4 or 5 days.

They should implement it so that if you dont eat for a day or two, you start to get weak, you cant swim or run fast and chopping is slower. Then if you still dont eat for a week or two you die.

A couple of times I have completely filled myself up before bed (no easy task as it takes 5 or more crabs), then I have gone to sleep thinking I will be all ready for my big boat trip the next morning, only to wake up almost dead from starvation! After one night sleeping! Wtf.

Definitely this mechanic needs some tweaking.

[Plato]

Yeah, it's not intuitive. My first reaction in my first playthrough was: right, I've got to build a shelter.

I died from starvation.

Now, in my playthroughs I immediately move from island to island to get enough rocks to build a firepit so that I can eat first. Hardly normal.

[Plato]

And you can stay awake all night and not suffer anything. I mean you don't need to sleep in this game.

There should be an energy bar to combine hunger and sleep.

[netcoder1]

Originally posted by Ajax:

Yeah, it's not intuitive. My first reaction in my first playthrough was: right, I've got to build a shelter.

I died from starvation.

Now, in my playthroughs I immediately move from island to island to get enough rocks to build a firepit so that I can eat first. Hardly normal.

Temperature is not implemented yet, but it will be eventually. When that happens, shelter will probably be the number one priority. On their website, they also mention that temperature will affect hydration, so I'm guessing thirst will go up faster.

[Frizz]

Still should starve much much slower

[Wolvie]

3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter (in a harsh enviroment, which is usually night when things get cold enough to steal your body heat but it can just be being wet during the day and a bit of wind too)
3 days without water
3 days without sleep (you start to halucinate, error, error Blue Screen, shut down)
3 weeks without food

BUT.

Divide that all by half and you got the time in which you're probably going to be as weak as new born and a monster migraine. Divide that by half again if you are bleeding, broken, or ill.

How could that be represented in the game? Well, you know how when you are underwater too long your vision at the edges of the screen starts to fade out? Bingo, we got a fairly decent representation of feeling like ♥♥♥♥ right there.

So, I think this thread is correct in saying the rate which has our food meter dropping faster than our water meter is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up, it should probably show not having these things you need to survive sooner than beeps from the watch, a text message, and you're dead - game over, return to starting screen.

Anyone else think the indicator for how much air you have left when diving is a bit off too?

I hope the Devs tweak this. When the game gets out of Early Access and if it hasn't been fixed, I suppose I'll mod the game but come on, just tweak it Devs :D

[Sistermatic™]

Originally posted by netcoder:

3 hours in the hot sun of the Pacific without shades (shades created by some sort of shelter, be it man-made of trees and stuff) and you're pretty much done for.

No. Sorry mate. This simply isn't true. I've WORKED in temperatures above 40c (110F+) - outside - in Australia for the entire day. Weeks at a time.

All you need is water. The body is it's own airconditioner - if you have water. (FYI: 22 litres per day - 2 waterbags - is more than ample).

At most you need a hat to prevent sunburn but still not life-threatening without. 10 minutes under a shady tree is nice though. :)

[Wolvie]

Originally posted by SisterMatic:

Originally posted by netcoder:

3 hours in the hot sun of the Pacific without shades (shades created by some sort of shelter, be it man-made of trees and stuff) and you're pretty much done for.

No. Sorry mate. This simply isn't true. I WORK in temperatures above 40c - outside - in Australia for the entire day. Weeks at a time.

All you need is water. The body is it's own airconditioner - if you have water.

At most you need a hat to prevent sunburn but still not life-threatening without. 10 minutes under a shady tree is nice though. :)

I think Netcoder is refering to heat stroke though, Sistermatic. ;)

But honestly, we're swimming in the warm waters of the Pacific here, we should probably be ok.