Eating seems too difficult

[silverforte]

Can someone give me some advice? I checked a lot of guides but they seem to contain out dated info, even here. Or maybe I'm just being stupid. I just got the game and I'm trying to get my hunger meter back up but I can't get it to move more than 2-5 points at a time. I even found dragon meat and cooked it with other stuff to make casserole but it doesn't give me enough. What can I do as a total newbie with no access to metal ore to survive?

[Kitsune Dzelda]

Forage grass tiles for food, or if youre smart, why not make a fishing pole? You only need a few shafts, a spindle (made form a shaft) and some cotton (also gotten by foraging) Eating is a bit of work in this game, but Ive found those ot be the best methods of going about it

[Nekrolysis]

QL makes a very big influence on how much food will fill you up. With a low cooking skill even finding something such as dragon meat and cooking it won't create a fillin dish.

[Fiben]

My eating solution is fairly straightforward. Become a follower, get to I think 10 Faith, Sacrifice Rare Shards, dirt, kindlings, etc. Instant full health/Nutrition, fast till the next drumroll and bam

[Userfaulty]

Find pumpkins and berries or a spice (basil, thyme, rosemary) and cook them in a cooking bowl. Find some clay and make two extra bowls so you can cook 3 meals at the same time. The weight of the pumpkin means you will eat for longer so the bar will raise more. keep a pumpkin or two to crush and plant the seeds.

[dorristheloris]

Like @Userfaulty said, in the beginning try and concentrate on making meals as heavy in weight as possible at first, so forage things like pumpkin (1kg), cabbage (500g) to bulk out your meals. A casserole made with a meat/fish, a pumpkin, a herb and a berry should come out at about 1.5kg, but you can make it heavier still by throwing in any other veg you have.

If you can make a fishing pole and get your fishing skill up (it increases pretty quickly compared to most skills) then you should start landing fish of 500g or more, which will be heavier and so provide more calories than a piece of meat, which will usually come up around 300-500g.

Don't forget, if you find any rocks when foraging, you can melt them in your campfire to make low ql iron. It's slow going but may help to get you started.

[silverforte]

Thanks guys, lots of useful advice. I'll try the fishing rod and pumpkin cooking next time I log in. I also found that fennel and brown mushrooms recover a lot of hunger so I'm going to be focusing on that as well.

[bob_2059]

I also found that fennel and brown mushrooms recover a lot of hunger

That was probably due more to quality than to actual items. If you forage up an edible something that is QL 99, it will fill you up pretty quickly.

[woodsguide]

sidenote
when you do start cooking meals, leave them in the cooking container in the oven.. they last longer ;o)
if you have to take some food with you i suggest leaving it in the bowl or pan in your inventory.. yes it takes up a few precious wt but the food wont spoil near as fast.

[LokitheWeaver]

Lots of changes to food / cooking in a major overhaul, almost a year ago. (Man, has it really been that long : ) so it is not surprising that most guides are outdated. And not much detailed stuff is out there on the new system. It is huge.

But to add a couple things I have recently discovered, some of the standard wisdom still works: a simple pottery bowl and campfire, plus random ingredients you forage, can keep you from starving (even if some of them sound rather weird.) One trick I don't think anyone has mentioned is that the new cooking system has a couple user help functions. You may notice that if you put an item, or several, into your cooking container you can select "lore" from the text pull down menu. That will give you hints - if you have a valid recipe, or suggestions on things to change.

You also start with a recipe book. It is found on the long bar, visually showing various types of commands (first one is "climb", if I recall, on the left; cookbook is on the far right of that bar.) Browse through that when you are in a situation where you are engaged in a mindless task. (I often do it when mining, set up my action que and read while my toon works.)

It will give you some idea of the scope of the system. I recently killed a pig, because had actually found a branch (they have become very rare : ) Using the branch on the pig corpse, gave me a pig on a spit, which placed over a campfire quickly became a large amount of roast pork (7+ kilos, if I recall.)

One downside to the new system is that you need tons of gear to be most effective. So it is *NOT* nomad friendly. A frying pan. A sauce pan. A caldron. A baking dish. A roasting dish. A marble stone for baking bread. A knife / fork / spoon and plate for mixing, stirring, slicing and dicing and creating meals. A fruit press for making juices and oils. A grain mill for oats, barley, rye and wheat - all grains you can find or grow, which will make flour for bread.

Best "early game" hint is the fishing pole. Even a small fish can be used in clay bowl with veg, etc. Try different combos until you check the lore and find that it will create a "breakfast" (if memory serves that is still a really good starter meal.)

Even if you have nothing else, you can "wrap" and / or "fillet" a large fish A wrapped piece of fish can be cooked directly on the fire.

Don't forget "location" counts in fishing - real life and Wurm. Shallow waters, near the shore will often yield only small pan fish. But if you can find a shore with a steep drop-off and fish a tile 3 steps away and at a decent depth, you can catch a pike or catfish. Early game a 1-3 kilo fish is nothing to sneeze at.

Enjoy.

[james]

Originally posted by LokitheWeaver:

Lots of changes to food / cooking in a major overhaul, almost a year ago. (Man, has it really been that long : ) so it is not surprising that most guides are outdated. And not much detailed stuff is out there on the new system. It is huge.
...
One downside to the new system is that you need tons of gear to be most effective. So it is *NOT* nomad friendly.

I find that the new cooking system promotes cooperation. So I like it; if you can find someone with good cooking experience/tools, there is often someone looking to trade their high quality food for stuff you might be able to forage (spices, berries etc.). On our server (Sawrio), I trade the stuff I hunt and farm to an awesome chef and so my nutrition bars are always at 100% when I finish a meal. Your relationships in Wurm can allow you to focus on doing what you like best!

[wildbill]

Originally posted by james:

Originally posted by LokitheWeaver:

Lots of changes to food / cooking in a major overhaul, almost a year ago. (Man, has it really been that long : ) so it is not surprising that most guides are outdated. And not much detailed stuff is out there on the new system. It is huge.
...
One downside to the new system is that you need tons of gear to be most effective. So it is *NOT* nomad friendly.

I find that the new cooking system promotes cooperation. So I like it; if you can find someone with good cooking experience/tools, there is often someone looking to trade their high quality food for stuff you might be able to forage (spices, berries etc.). On our server (Sawrio), I trade the stuff I hunt and farm to an awesome chef and so my nutrition bars are always at 100% when I finish a meal. Your relationships in Wurm can allow you to focus on doing what you like best!

And yet you are stupid enough to respond to a post that is over two years old.

[james]

Why on earth wouldn't ? It is still topical.

[silverforte]

People get really anal about the time something was posted on forums. There's basically a type of person who acts like a hallmonitor and breaks into a hissy fit every time someone replies to an old post. I don't personally care if it's still relative, but some people will ♥♥♥♥♥ about anything.

[Alakbar]

Yea, I dont mind either so ask away :) Even if its a necro post.

[HTP]

Originally posted by wildbill:

Originally posted by james:

I find that the new cooking system promotes cooperation. So I like it; if you can find someone with good cooking experience/tools, there is often someone looking to trade their high quality food for stuff you might be able to forage (spices, berries etc.). On our server (Sawrio), I trade the stuff I hunt and farm to an awesome chef and so my nutrition bars are always at 100% when I finish a meal. Your relationships in Wurm can allow you to focus on doing what you like best!

And yet you are stupid enough to respond to a post that is over two years old.

Don't mind me, just quoting your post a few years later so you can see it and get unreasonably mad about it again