Meal Maker

[LockNesTom]

So in my very first post here ages ago, I mentioned and you guys fixed the malnutrition issue by making it harder to get which was great but I have noticed that even though you have added more options to the meal maker it is still always pumping out basic meals when I play. I have tons of food and a variety but the machine fills up so quick that it only ever pumps out basic food. To fix this I recommend a change to the UI and the machine itself. Instead of 5 slots for input and output. have 6 slots for input, 3 dedicated to meat, 3 to veggies, and then 6 output for meals only. That way when it recognizes that it only had veggies and a lack of meals it will do that, but when both have items in them and space to process them it will prioritize better meals. That was the best way I could think of, since you already have machines that require specific components. Or maybe add meals for some of the other veggies? I mean onions are pointless as are potatoes, lettuce, raddishes, and peas other than for a salad. I mean half of the GM crop possibilites are useless aka the onions. Anyways thanks for the time!

[Operation40]

good suggestion..

srange to hear onions don't have a recipie -- IRL they're in like.. everything.

[Ddoge]

i seem to get by ok by just building fewer of the "salad only" crops: onions, potatoes, lettuce, raddishes, and peas.

Instead I focus on Wheat, Maize, Tomatos, and Mushrooms. I do build some of the others, especially when I get the GM Onion tech...but not nearly as many.

I've almost never seen the malnutrition icon.

[slxpress]

Most of the time I'm only building rice and peas, because they're fast growing and they provide starch. I'll throw in a tomato or onion if I see the food production going down and I don't have a readily available food expansion option --- either plant or meat --- but I replace it with rice/peas/medicinal pad whenever I'm able to provide a different option.

I also try to keep my vitromeat/plant production on a one to one ratio.

[Ddoge]

I find the meat production to be a little odd. Usually my meat production stays more or less in lock-step w/ my veggie production. I'm not sure if somehow I just manage to build the perfect number of meat processors keep pace w/ the veggies, or if there is some other mechanism at play.

[MFC_Plowing]

Originally posted by gary:

I find the meat production to be a little odd. Usually my meat production stays more or less in lock-step w/ my veggie production. I'm not sure if somehow I just manage to build the perfect number of meat processors keep pace w/ the veggies, or if there is some other mechanism at play.

98% of the time they are in lock step. I've only see it change when I add a Biodome/Lab does it change, but only for a short time.

[Targa]

I either grow meat+wheat exclusively, for "burgers", or tomatoes+wheat exclusively for "pasta". Have never had a case of malnutrition yet. With the tomatoes+wheat combo, I build 2 tomato plants + 3 wheat plants, so they both output 6 food.

[Jet City Gambler]

I find Salads to be really easy. Once I reach 100+ colonists I'm usually drowning in starch anyway, so I'll build a big veggie-only dome and bam! it's easily supplying two canteens, six Meal Makers each with nothing but salads. Onions, radishes, lettuce -- the variety makes it work.

It is odd how your meat production parallels your veggie output, though.

[CyberJarl]

I agree that the meal maker mechanics need to be reworked. Simplifying the recipes I think was not the way to go as it actually reduces the ways you can end up with a proper meal rather than make it more likely and defeats the purpose of growing various crops. I think that either the AI should be improved so that colonists and droids actually favor meal combinations when picking ingredients, or allow the user to select a recipe or ingredients at the meal maker.

Right now, there's little point to even plan for meals, because it just seems like they're picking ingredients radomly. Much too often, when I have 3 slots available and all the vegetables I need for pasta or salads, they'll just pick 3 boxes of tomatoes and make a basic meal instead >.<

[Skirlasvoud]

Originally posted by Targa:

I either grow meat+wheat exclusively, for "burgers", or tomatoes+wheat exclusively for "pasta". Have never had a case of malnutrition yet. With the tomatoes+wheat combo, I build 2 tomato plants + 3 wheat plants, so they both output 6 food.

Actually, the proper wheat tomato ratio is 2:1

See guide. :P

[Gaminnewf]

Personally, I think there should be a button that tells the meal maker which meal to make. That way, the dumb AI can at least focus on getting just the two or three things needed to make the meal, and not shove a crapton of wheat when there is plenty of meat around.

I refuse to believe that this request is impossible, because you have buttons on the meat machines and your robot workshops, so there are button machine mechanics in your code.

[Targa]

I've moved on to wheat+mushrooms in my current game, but regarding the OP and having 3 meat slots and 3 veggie slots in a Mealmaker machine, that doesn't work very good for players like myself who aren't making any meat at all. That only leaves 3 slots to get a "salad" or "pasta" made. Also, some recipes call for 3 different vegetables...

Originally posted by skirlasvoud:

Originally posted by Targa:

I either grow meat+wheat exclusively, for "burgers", or tomatoes+wheat exclusively for "pasta". Have never had a case of malnutrition yet. With the tomatoes+wheat combo, I build 2 tomato plants + 3 wheat plants, so they both output 6 food.

Actually, the proper wheat tomato ratio is 2:1

See guide. :P

See what guide? I'd love to find a guide that explains this. I'm assuming you're referring to tomatoes having a faster growth cycle, thereby tipping the balance?

Edit: Actually, it doesn't really matter all that much. I did the 350 colonist achievement and never had a case of malnutrition, so even if the ratios are off a bit, it all works out in the end.

[korac]

Originally posted by Targa:

See what guide? I'd love to find a guide that explains this. I'm assuming you're referring to tomatoes having a faster growth cycle, thereby tipping the balance?

I believe the one he's referring to is an intriguing analysis called "Resource balancing, prices and how long it takes to produce stuff" - available among the Guides linked above.

But I agree, malnutrition is very easy to avoid - probably too easy, really, since most players will only see it crop up much later on, in a very large base, where an occasional colonist just by chance has subsisted on Basic meals too long for his own good... I'd also like to see it happen if they routinely live on only pasta or burgers for too long, since those hardly provide a balanced diet either!

[Skirlasvoud]

Originally posted by Targa:

I've moved on to wheat+mushrooms in my current game, but regarding the OP and having 3 meat slots and 3 veggie slots in a Mealmaker machine, that doesn't work very good for players like myself who aren't making any meat at all. That only leaves 3 slots to get a "salad" or "pasta" made. Also, some recipes call for 3 different vegetables...

Originally posted by skirlasvoud:

Actually, the proper wheat tomato ratio is 2:1

See guide. :P

See what guide? I'd love to find a guide that explains this. I'm assuming you're referring to tomatoes having a faster growth cycle, thereby tipping the balance?

Edit: Actually, it doesn't really matter all that much. I did the 350 colonist achievement and never had a case of malnutrition, so even if the ratios are off a bit, it all works out in the end.

See my guide:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=613520511

Sorry, shameless plug.

I've counted production ratios with a stopwatch.

[Tanzia]

I find my meat and veg production are also pretty stream line but I won't claim skill or magic on that, I simply keep an eye on my veg and meat production and add when needed.

I have no problem getting the meal makers to make an assortment with very little effort on my part:

I make a medium to large storage building then I link a canteen, bio dome and lab to it.

I ensure I have a sensible amount of workers and/or carry bots and while I still get basic meals I also get hamburgers, pasta and salads with 0 Malnutrition cases for 25-150 population.

And I don't bother counting or tormenting myself with what to grow, I'm ocd with symmetry placement, I slap down a an assortment then mirror it. :D (Wonders if the dev's are secret symmetry freaks like herself and this is why it works.

:D

I don't see that the dev's need to change meal makers, need to change what you're doing when playing the game and figure out what works..

:P