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Aldebaran

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About Aldebaran

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  1. Enhanced Configuration

    "A way to decrease the decay is already there in the cfg, don't get why you want another one."... As stated previously...the method that is there currently is all, or nothing and adjusts a globally standardized formula for decay, an option such as this would let the player drastically speed up the global decay rate so things go bad quickly, but drastically reduce the decay rate of salted/cooked things etc making it more imperative that they make use of these processing methods. It isn't JUST something that could make it easier as numbers can be raised and lowered. Once again, as stated previous, this would allow a player to get exactly what they wanted out of the game, which could aid in broadening the appeal. I would ask that you not think of this as a "something I could make use of" suggestion as much as a "game design" suggestion... If something could be added that could benefit the overall value of a game (whether you yourself would make use of it) and it could be implemented in a manner in which it would in no way interfere with your experience (either delaying other features or forcing you to use them). Then why should this feature NOT be added? I agree it is an unfair comparison but made with valid intentions. TFC is a mod for minecraft but the comparison is basically that of chess and checkers... yes the board upon which you play(at least in most of the Anglo-centric parts of the world) is basically the same, but the underlying rules are so vastly different that the similarities basically end there. While I am obviously aware that TFC is a mod but in my mind it has fallen prey to the Boat of Theseus paradox where so many of the original pieces have been removed and new ones added that it completely stopped being the game it was originally. I also understand that comparing the capabilities of a game produced by a multimillion dollar studio that are free to capitalize their creations to a small group that is only able to request donations is a tad unfair and I am fully aware of it. The reason why I used TES is because of the notoriety of the franchise and because it is the 'top dog' of series which have greatly taken advantage of customizable enhancements (in their case in the form of mods). Most PC gamers tend to have played them or, at least, be familiar with the extensive modding community for them. They were used n this example because, presumably, more people would be familiar with them. On a more comparable level with simply adding re-playability and longevity to a game via configuration options I would cite Civilization 4 which (granted, it was through addons) allowed a player to have far more extensive control over terrain, climate, sea level and dozens of other features. This configuration added a great deal of depth to the game that was lacking originally and allowed, myself (and others presumably) to feel as if the world created really reflected the type of world we wanted to play with.
  2. Enhanced Configuration

    I am aware that game development is quite complex. and by "When implementing such a feature would not put a strain on larger project" I more accurately mean "When major in-game feature additions are done" This is for two reasons... the primary one being so that manpower can be devoted to more challenging development project. The secondary reason is so that once all major in-game features are added, a person can step back, look it over, and see where they could add options to help tailor to game to the player. I don't believe I cited anything that would effect world generation. To the best of my knowledge temperature control is a dependent of coordinates primarily and as such altering temperature wouldn't remove biomes from world generation. It would just mean that what tropical plants you find would be wilted and in 'fall/winter" mode year round and you wouldn't be able to regrow them if you set the temperatures low enough. I am no programmer so you may be right. I do understand that all these configurations would no doubt require test, but I would venture a guess that testing something like this was far less complex than testing features regarding soil PH and the taste of food. I also want to stress that I am not talking about over the top configuration options to alter features such as biomes pigs spawn in, the value of a chunk of ore of a given quality or the recipes for a given tool. I am trying to only propose things which would be possible via toggling between true and false or adjusting a rate by a set percentage or set value. I.e. in the case of salt it would be an alteration to the .5x modifier to decay... in the case of temperature it would be a constant modifier of -x or +x to the ambient temperature (possibly adjusted by percentage if that would be easier). I want to keep this as simple as possible. I would like to stress, I am not meaning this as something that should be added in a near approaching update. Not the next update, or the one after that or probably the next dozen. I am talking about something that would only be beneficial once all major features are developed and the game is more or less out of the development phase and more onto the 'polishing' phase and possibly towards end of the polishing phase when the 'great bug hunt' finally begins to come to a close.
  3. Enhanced Configuration

    I don't think you understand quite the point I am attempting to make. Is less about if any given person would like or make use of a specific feature than... -If a feature configuration option is possible to add... -If the option is something that could potentially be useful to a player (not necessarily to you, me or any given person, but to someone in general)... -If the option is something that could allow them to tailor the game more to their own designs... -If this option could be done in a user friendly way without effecting the stability of the game... -Then is it not worth implementing such a feature... -When implementing such a feature would not put a strain on larger projects -When the effort to reward for such a feature would be in the developers favor (i.e. near the ending of development when rewriting such features would no longer be a concern) -To achieve the end of giving players the choice to better customizing their experience to what they want to experience I gather from your post that you would like the game to be harder and I fully believe you should have that option, but if a player wants to tailor their game to their own desires, making it easier in the process, and their ability to do that in no way, shape, or form would effect your experience unless you actually WANTED it to and implemented it yourself, why would you be opposed to it? I would also go so far as to say that the more customizable a game is the more players tend to enjoy it. We needn't look any further than Bethesda's Elder Scroll series where literally thousands of mods exist which a player can choose to add to their game to tailor their experience more to their own personal desires. For example, Morrowind came out in 2003 and there is still a very active community of modders for the title. These mods keep the game fresh and enjoyable and I am willing to bet that you could have played the game every other year since it's release and have had a completely different experience simply because of the controls you have over the game. Unfortunately TFC doesn't seem to have a very large add-on community which would can help improve the longevity of the game, but any kind of options that allow a player to customize their experience will help in performing the exact same function. Games aren't judged by the high concepts they address, 'artistic integrity, graphics, music or any other standalone concept. They are judged by only one thing, how much fun does the player have. Now, I am not saying that TFC isn't fun, in fact, it is very enjoyable. That said though, if a simple feature could be implemented that would in no way effect the experiences of players who didn't want to make use of it, and could enhance the experience of those who did, is that feature not worthwhile to the overall 'value' of the game regardless of whether you or I personally would make use of it?... and on that end my answer is a resounding YES
  4. Enhanced Configuration

    I would like to see some enhanced configuration options for players to modify the game to their tastes... Preservation/Decay While the game currently has decay configuration settings, it isn't exactly that customizable. You can decrease or increase the overall decay rate of food in the game but this is very much an all or nothing option. As a player, I would personally like the option to build a food surplus without removing the decay option entirely, as I actually like the fact I can't leave a chunk of raw meat laying in the hot summer sun and expect it not to decay. To this end I would like to suggest the following. An option to control the decay rate of foods which have been preserved somehow either by salting,cooking, or possibly in the future pickling or dehydration. Pros... Encourage Varying Playtypes: Minecraft, in its vanilla flavor is less about survival and more about building. In this build of the game, survival takes a much larger role, technological advancement eats up even more playtime leaving even less time for building. Many people who play minecraft enjoy the engineering aspect of the game and TFC is amazing for people like this given the wide variety of resources they have at their disposal to work with. The ability to build up enough of a surplus of food without completely turning off the decay mechanics (so the game still maintains the unique feel of TFC) so that a play can concentrate upon building their own Rome/Carthage/Athens/insertanotherancientcityhere) On the alternate side, players that wanted to go hardcore survivalist could reduce the effects of these processes an extent to suit their desires to that surviving a winter might perhaps be an even greater struggle for survival. This type of configuration option would allow players to adjust the game to cater more to the play-style they themselves want to play. Interpretation Representation: It is not a stretch to guess that if three people claim they are going to cook a steak of the exact same cut that you will end up with three different steaks entirely. One might cook it well done, another leave it slightly pink in the middle and the last might be hiding behind a tree gnawing angrily upon a chunk of raw meat and foaming at the mouth (Uncle Bobby Jo is a strange one). By this I mean that when someone says pickled, cooked, salted or dehydrated a great many things can come to mind. For example one person might think of salting as lightly salting the exterior of a piece of meat to make it less appetizing to the friendly neighborhood micro-organisms... someone else might think of it as caking the meat in a salt block until all liquid has been sucked out and the slightest bite of it will spell instant heart attack due to high sodium intake. This type of configuration would allow the world to reflect mechanically what the player envisions in their mind's eye. Player Driven Goals: In sandbox games of all types, there are seldom major goals that confine a player and the player is left up to their own devices to determine what their own personal goals are. It is the player, and not the game, which determines what it means to 'win the game'. The ability to adjust these decay rates for some preservation methods lower than their current rates would allow players to set the goal of establishing a large enough food supply to the point they no longer needed to be concerned about food. This is as worthy a goal as any and one I personally think should be afforded to players. This type of configuration would allow players a wider set of goals which they could ultimately set for themselves to achieve as part of their own personal terms for victory. Greatly enhancing player engagement for those who find satisfaction in this. Cons... Salt Becomes Over Powered if it Stops Decay Entirely: It is not hard to see how someone might view the ability to preserve food indefinitely as game-breakingly overpowered which alters game balance. To this, I offer the following rebut... In games where you spawn randomly fairness between two players is at best highly unlikely. Not all resources are equally valuable and just because you are in the same world, doesn't mean that you have access to the exact same materials as someone else depending upon where you are located and how far you have advanced. The best example I can provide is this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPruuGTwxTw&list=UU8jNBqFhT2rgiMmTAqC-SqA&index=18 This poor fellow had to walk almost two days in game to find GRASS. I must say that starting out, I would prefer grass and the ability to build a shelter over the ability to preserve food indefinitely. Additionally, it is not as if adding this as a configurable option means that a player must use it, it simply means that those who want to, can. Average Global Temperature As it stands currently, there is no option to alter the climate of the world at large in Terrafirmacraft. By this I mean an option that lets you modify the temperature across all biomes by a set amount. By this I mean... if the player chose -5, in a biome where the normal temperature would be 15 degrees, it would now be 10. This could additionally be done as a percentage instead of a flat decrease. Pros... Customized Planet: The player can have a world of their choice generated every time they enter the game. If a play wants to attempt to scrape by upon a frigid world akin to the ice world of Hoth or the extreme heat Tatooine they may do so. They can additionally alter the temperature to reflect their own conditions. If they want to try and survive during the ice age this would become a possibility, if they want their world to be a post apocalyptic world ravaged by the effects of global warming they can do. Given that trees withering and plant growth are dependent upon certain temperatures the world also conform to the world they envision. Cons... ?... I actually can't think of a con for this one save for perhaps that it might be difficult to implement... The Rest of the Saplings Currently in TFC there are three trees which do not drop saplings when the leaves are cut...these being Acacia, Kapok, and Sequoia. I would like to see a configuration option which allows these to be turned on as drops from the leaves. Pros... Enhanced Builder Playstyle: As I mentioned previously, there are a great many players of minecraft who primarily enjoy the building aspect and many would and do enjoy the challenge brought in from the many other features of the TFC build. That being said, one of the things which would draw them to the game would be the plethora of different resources they have access to with which to build anything they can imagine. That being said, there are resources which many players view to be renewable with proper care, and chief amongst those renewable building resources is lumber. The option for these additional wood types would allow a player to build more things and potentially enhance the experience of a player that wants to use these resources extensively. Realism: I know that I used the vile "R" word but bare with me here. The truth of the matter is that some players enjoy TFC is no doubt because it is far FAR more realistic than vanilla minecraft. And while a number of species of tree are regrettably endangered, it is not because of the harvesting of lumber... it is because of the irresponsible harvesting of lumber not because the trees actually don't reproduce. Awesome Assets: Quite frankly the Acacia tree is one of the coolest looking assets in the game. Hands down the most well designed tree. Allowing it as an option will allow players who want to, to have more of them in their world than the set quantity which spawn on world generation... and put them in other locations. I have no doubt that a few players might enjoy planting once of these plants in another location so as to build themselves a massive treehouse to live in. Cons... Overpowered: I will not dispute it. If a player sets the configuration to allow these trees to be renewable they will never, ever, ever, have to worry about a lumber shortage again the moment they get a single sappling... but my rebuttal to this is why not? If it is easy to implement and it could make some players happy isn't it worth implementing such a thing just to enhance those 'players who want it's experience? Time Frame I know that game design is tough and I am not suggesting that this necessarily be in the next patch, or the next patch, or even the next one after that. My suggestion is that these things be implemented simply at 'some point' to make full use of the potential that the game can have to appeal to players of all stripes. I am also aware that more players will not use any given one of these than will, but those who do will enjoy the fact that they can completely cater their experience to what they themselves want. I would even go so far as to suggest that these types of features should be implemented only when the vast majority of game mechanics are fully in place, preventing any major overhauls for these configurations being necessary every time an update is released. This is especially significant given that any given one of these configurations might only appeal to a small handful of players that want to do so. Sure, some of these options may make the game a bit overpowered, but allowing a player to tailor their experience more precisely to their desires, more players will enjoy the game... The more players who enjoy the game, the more new people they will tell... The more new people they tell, the more people will play the game... The more people that play the game, the more renown the game will get... The more renown the game gets, the more likely the developers will get the respect owed to them for taking a game that, was entertaining yet monotonous, and turning it into arguably one of the best damned survival games out there AND doing it without pay... Comments, Concerns, Prayer Requests and Awkward Facial Expressions all much appreciated...
  5. World Generation controls.

    I don't know if I would personally use the setting to disable certain biomes but I can see it adding a new level of challenge for players and possibly being enjoyable if a player wants to try an arctic wasteland survival situation without the temptation to abandon their desolate homeland. What really does intrigue me though is world-shape and I have no idea if it would actually be possible. Instead of the world being a flat square it could be interesting if the world was actually round... and no, I don't mean angling everything to have softer edges. By this I mean you would have a maximum x and y coordinate before your negative became positive... i.e. you could walk straight forward for thousands upon thousands of blocks and end up back at the spot you were standing originally. I doubt this is possible but it would be amazing if it were and was actually implemented.
  6. Musket Add-On Concept

    I was actually making a joke about how inaccurate muskets tended to be... Muskets don't have rifling which puts a twist on a bullet helping it to fly straight (think the way an American football seems to roll but not end over end after it is thrown). They also used projectiles which were often smaller than the barrels they were being loaded into. Wadding could help compensate if it was packed tightly enough but most of the time the bullet would be bouncing about in the barrel as it was propelled forward. This resulted in the bullet not traveling straight forward, but instead would instead exit at a slight angle to the left, right, up or down. This was the reason why infantry regiments would line up in formations to fire at their enemy, because instead of being a precise weapon, the regiment would function as a sort shotgun. This was the reason why the American Civil War tended to be more bloody than the Napoleonic war, because during the American Civil War both sides tended to be equip with rifles... and it doesn't even take a competent marksman to hit a target the size of an infantry formation at 100 yards. That being said, I absolutely agree, a musket ball would travel much further than a bow or crossbow fired at the same angle Physics Time Also, as a bit of a comparison on force: An arrow weighs roughly: 400-500grains* A musket ball for a 75 cal weighs roughly: 500-600 grains** *weight variance intended to include variation in wood for shaft and assumes a simple steel arrowhead ** weight variance intended to include round ball between 69cal and 75cal which all function in a 75 cal musket, also assumes a simple round ball projectile Peak FPS for Bow: 180-200fps* Peak FPS for Musket: 1500-2000fps** *This is for a Recurve bow, not a compound bow **This is for a standard powder charge of blackpowder and what matters... Kinetic Energy (what kind of power will it hit with) Bow- Low:28.748 High:44.365 Musket- Low: 2495.563 High:5323.868 So the musket would be hitting with about 10x the momentum of a bow on average.
  7. Ideas about food preservation.

    I am not saying that it isn't done, I am saying that it relatively uncommon. I have had polish soups that are made primarily of pickles and they aren't bad. What I am saying is that by and large these things aren't done... and that the primary use of pickles is as an extra item to accompany other dishes. I also think restricting them out of meals would (at least given the ideas I proposed) help in balancing them mechanically. I.e. you might not be able to do everything with them that you would like, but that is part of a balancing act to enhance game-play as much as anything. Remember, I did propose that these be an indefinite preservation tactic, given that manner of advantage, a mechanical balance must be struck somewhere. As I mentioned previously, the reason I site not using dehydrated or pickled foods is meals is for two reasons. The first is mechanical balance. it is not rocket science to identify the advantage provided by a food with indefinite preservation. I am in favor of indefinite preservation because it provides a new level of development to the game, as well as solving a number of problems related to multi-player and allowing the player to go from a survival stage to a thriving stage later in the game. The second is that it falls within the realm of belief. When I am talking about dehydration I am not talking about dehydration at the same level as the dehydrated goods you tend to buy in your grocery store. Fully dehydrated foods tend to be very hard and not easy to eat. Jerky you make at home, or buy in a bag at a grocer is nothing at all like the dehydration I am speaking of. You can rip it, chew it, and with a bit of water get it down... but it isn't pleasant. Looking at the example of hard tack, many soldiers had to dunk it in coffee/tea/water before they could even eat it because it was too hard. Once again, I am not saying that it isn't done, I am saying that the the situations that it is done are quite uncommon. As for garlic (and lets throw in onions with your statement), you are quite right, at least as far as modern times go. However, this wasn't always the case. Garlic and onions have historically been extremely inexpensive because they are relatively easy to grow. This meant that many people, particularly those echelons of society looking only to survive, had to resort to eating what they could get... i.e. onions and garlic. While boiled onion smeared on bread might have been common in years past, that little delicacy really didn't stick around but French Onion Soup and Spaghetti aglio e olio (pasta with garlic and oil) did and are remnants of the 'peasant' food of the time period. The reason why I liked the idea of a steel drying rack, is once again tied to the concept of indefinite preservation. As mentioned previously, indefinite preservation would be a HUGE benefit to the player as the moment that technology is attained, survival just got infinitely easier because you can keep a stash of food in your basement and never worry about it rotting. Having this be a steel item means it can't be attained until later in the game. While a wooden dehydration rack does actually work, the ability to do that in this game means that the moment you had a saw and could work wood, food preservation would be yours as well. (Not to mention that the steel age is so hard to attain that the indefinite preservation ability provides extra motivation to get all the tons of iron you need to get there. How much meat was to be dehydrated would depend upon when and where the bison was killed. Traders and travelers would simply dry almost the whole thing and move on, whereas in a village, dehydration was not necessary because because there were enough people to consume it before the meat turned. When stocking up for winter months though, it would be dehydrated. Dehydrated meat was then mixed with fat to make a substance known as pemmican. This would also on occasions be mixed with dried fruit. In TFC however the problem is that you don't necessarily have a village to prepare food for, and in single player the option to fully dehydrate things so they last extreme lengths of time is preferable to partially dehydrating it and having half of it spoil before you can eat it. The U.S. and Canada were not that rapidly industrialized, nor have they been thoroughly industrialized for all that long. Remember just how large the U.S. and Canada are to their European counterparts, and how spread out their populations are (particularly in the Southern United State where). If you have been in the Southern U.S. for any period of time you might have heard of Country Ham or Barbeque? Country Ham is little more than a chunk of pork which is salted, salted, salted, salted, salted and salted a little more to get it a bit more salty. It is basically dehydrated through being packed in salt. After a few months of absorbing the briney goodness, the meat would be hung and smoked. After smoking the meat would be hung, and it would inevitably mold... but only on the outside. The mold could be left there or wiped off... but even the most motivated of bacteria can't grow in an environment that hostile to them so it would never get below the surface. Barbeque, comes in a lot of forms and with different sauces but the one constant is that it is smoked (and in most cases brined). This is just another example of a preservation technique becoming a popular cooking method. The primary issue I see people taking with my idea is that pickles and dehydrated foods couldn't be used in meals, I am curious if your primary disagreement with that is in regards to mechanical balance or sense of realism?
  8. Musket Add-On Concept

    I won't say a real musket has a straight trajectory... hell if somebody with a musket (note: musket, not rifle) shoots at you at about 100 yards and actually hits you, you are terribly unlucky. However, for the purposes of an add-on such as this the trajectory would of course be straight. The difference between the musket and the crossbow is that... You can't regather fired ammunition for a musket A musket hits with substantially more force than a crossbow, enough to where enemy defenses just don't matter For the purpose of the game we will go off traditional standards and claim it takes 20-30 seconds to load a musket, a bit longer than a crossbow
  9. TFC FORUM VIRUS? CHROME SAYS ITS MALWARE...

    Chrome and Firefox both are claiming it is an attack site... false positive?
  10. Musket Add-On Concept

    Given the number of requests that have been made to add firearms to the game (enough to where Dunk even posted that he would personally not add them in under the do-not-request page), I am surprised that nobody has actually stepped forward to build it as an add on. I myself am not a programmer in any capacity and I won't venture that it is possible for me to build an add-on (sometimes I am amazed that I can even turn on my computer). Having said that, I can't build an add-on... but I can build a musket. I know it is a bit of a shot in the dark, but if there are any skilled mod builders who would be interested in building a mod I would be more than happy to assist you however possible. A flintlock would be doable but I can see a matchlock being more viable with simpler construction and less work. A matchlock musket recipe could easily be something as simple as: Lever + Fuse + Barrel + Stock Lever: New casting recipe made of steel, blue steel or red steel Fuse: Made from yarn/rope (possibly combined with suet if using assets from extra-firma Barrel: steel, blue steel or red steel tuyere x 2 Stock: Wooden Plank + knife Ammunition could also be done simply as well via a paper cartridge recipe: Paper + Powder + Musket Ball Paper: Just regular Paper Powder: Gunpowder Musket Ball: New Clay Mold Recipe filled using lead Matchlock: (an overly complicated one, but still) Flintlock: Comments, concerns and prayer requests are all appreciated!
  11. Ideas about food preservation.

    I apologize for playing forum necromancer and resurrecting a topic from several months ago but I think this has a lot of potential, if not in the primary game, then as a Mod for TFC and if nothing else would like to work with a modder to see some of these things implemented.Going into anti-microbial herbs could get extremely tedious so I would prefer not to see something like that, but the ideas of dehydration and pickling makes a great deal of sense and seems as if it could be easily implemented. I am also not a huge fan of jams given that without pressurization sugar isn't much of a preservative (granted there are situations where it WORKS as a preservative but these are few and far between) Given that vinegar is already in the game, pickling is a perfect example of easy implementation. Fruits, veggies, and even meats (pigs feet or eggs anybody?) can be pickled. Furthermore it is something that could be implemented VERY easily by the creation of a brine recipe and a 'pickled' enchantment (or the equivalent of whatever salted currently is) which can apply to foods. A brine recipe could be crafted by combining a bucket of vinegar and salt. Dehydration given the ease of doing it and game balance should be something reserved for late game. This could be easily restricted by requiring the player to create a 'drying rack' which would have to be made of steel... which would also make sense given that you don't want your drying rack to melt... It could be placed over a forge similar to a crucible to use that as a heat source. I am no programmer and I am guessing it would be somewhat difficult to implement but given that the crucible works I have no doubt that this would be, at least, possible. The dehydrator would provide another 'enchantment' type ability to the food of simply 'dehydrated'. Dehydration works upon bread, meats, fruits, veg... basically anything that doesn't melt (so I guess no dehydrated cheese). This differs from the normal cooking method in that it is an extra step of preservation... To answer KittyChanley's question about dehydrated bread: If you go to your kitchen and make a loaf of bread and leave it out, one of two things will inevitably happen depending upon the temperature and humidity of your kitchen. The first is that your bread will mold making it inedible... in terrafirmacraft, this is represented by the decay system.. i.e. you cut off the moldy parts and keep the rest. The second is that the bread will go stale... unlike mold, going stale doesn't make the bread inedible and it doesn't make it harmful to eat... it just makes it less fluffy, hard to chew, and not really taste good but you CAN survive on it. Dehydrating bread basically insures that the bread goes down the route of going stale instead of molding... i.e. it tastes like hell but it will last a long time AND you can live on it (although you probably won't enjoy it). Both of these methods can preserve food for an EXTREMELY long time. Hell, the other day I ate a bag of deer jerky (dehydrated venison) that was made several YEARS ago and it tasted much the same now as it did then and at my family reunion we had a jar of pickled cauliflower that my great grandmother had pickled before she passed away and she died almost 10 years ago and it was still quite edible. Some people might be thinking that these things last so long because they were preserved using modern methods... but in reality, in spite of the fancy cans and electric dehydrators the basic principal is exactly the same and these tools make it easier, not necessarily more effective. Furthermore these methods have been used for years with dried meat originating long recorded history and dried bread was used for literally thousands of years as a portion of the diet on soldiers (yes, thousands, Ramses to Wellington all saw their soldiers have hardtack). Where I expect most people would have a bone to pick with my idea would be on the implementation and I would like feedback. Dehydration and Pickled effects would work as a pseudo-enchantment in the same way that salted currently does. The effect of these pseudo-enchantments would be that the process cuts the weight of the food by about half to two thirds and the item itself no longer decays. The reason for this is that while these foods do decay in real life, they do so at such a slow rate that it is completely negligible provided you don't get them wet or take them out of their brine etc. It basically requires user error to make them go bad. Dehydrated and Pickled food would keep you alive and would provide you with the nutrients necessary to stay healthy. I.e. eating dried meat would aid your hunger and provide you with protein and eating dried apples would aid your hunger and give you fruit. Dehydrated and Pickled foods are just that briney/salty or dried... there is a reason why they are served at bars and that is to make you thirsty. So eating them will lower your thirst bar, nothing extreme, but it will be a small but noticeable decrease. Dehydrated and Pickled foods may not be included when the player crafts meals... with the following reasoning. Why not pickles: I am well aware that people have pickles on sandwiches but these tend to be there more for either garnish or to add a hint of flavor more than to actually provide nutrition (you don't go to the local burger joint and get a cheeseburger and point at the couple slices of pickles that are on it and say "wow, I'm eating my veggies!". Why not dehydrated food: Imagine for a moment that you are going to your local steakhouse for dinner which specializes in all things beef. They obviously have steaks (represented in TFC by Cooked Beef) and they might even have Corned Beef (represented in TFC by Salted Beef) but you will be pretty hard pressed to find a restaurant that would serve you a meal featuring beef jerky. The reason for this being that while beef jerky kicks ass and I love it as much as anybody else... it is something you eat to survive or as a snack... not as a meal... it just isn't THAT satisfying. I am also sure some players may not like the idea of food that doesn't spoil as the struggle to survive and advance seems to be the premise of the mod. So for those of you will balance concerns, let me highlight the following. Balanced: I would be so bold as to say what I have proposed is actually as ballanced within the game as it is built currently. The reason being that this would make it no easier to survive than it is to thrive presently. Afterall if you can get a mated pair of pigs and can survive long enough to breed them twice you will never really have to worry about simply having food just for bare bones survival again as your pigs will reproduce quick enough that you can simply kill one anytime your food runs out and by the time your new meat runs out you will have 10 to replace the one you just killed. Note: Granted this proposition WOULD allow you to fill up other nutrient bars than just protein but it also requires processing and other resources (wood for heat to dehydrate and vinegar and salt to pickle) Player Investment: Currently if a player gets a stable farm up and running there is no advantage to having a larger farm. Their food will decay no matter what actions they take and they will have to repeat the next year. With something such as this implemented it will give the player a value in having a large farm as a surplus will have effects in the following years and can give a player a sense of accomplishment. Player Experience: A few weeks ago I shot a boar (with a flintlock, with open sites, at around 250 yards, through heavy brush,though the heart... not bragging or anything) and then I butchered and processed the meat. The ability to keep some steaks to eat now, freeze some for later, and dehydrate some to eat as a snack at some unforeseen date in the future is all part of the experience. I feel that what I have proposed falls will into the realm of believability (with an attempt to keep a limited burden on a mod developer) without forcing realism (i.e. the player must construct a meat slicer to slice their meat then, then get a fire to exactly x temperature for y time period or create a special pickling jar which must be cast of only the finest of glass...) to the point of becoming tedious. Encourages Different Styles of Playing: Minecraft is a game with two key components, building and survival, with survival obviously becoming more important in the TFC mod than in the vanilla game. That doesn't however remove the significance of building... this mod would allow a player that wants to concentrate more upon building while still having the enhanced realism of TFC to have exactly that. They could spend a year farming, build up a surplus, then spend the next year building, relying upon the food they build up during the previous year for survival. Multiplayer Improvement: The problem with playing TFC in multiplayer is that when you log off and log back in a couple days later (unless you turn the server off) your supplies have suddenly rotted away to nothing and you are once again in need of foodstuffs. The inclusion of these preservation systems would substantially increase the playability of the mod on multiplayer as players would have the option of treating their food in such a fashion that it would not longer be gone with they came back. I am not saying it is perfect but while keeping the decay system intact in multiplayer it is the best I can personally think of. Other stuff: If this were implemented I think it might also be pertinent to include... the ability to boil a bucket of salt water to acquire a single unit of salt. possibly include a clay vessel in the pickling recipe, brine + vessel + food, as opposed to just brine + food
  12. TerraFirma+ : Medicine & Health

    @AllenWL Morphine / Opium Actually opium was used much for the same purpose morphine is today as the active ingredient is... morphine... what you have today is nothing more or less than the morphine which has been refined from the opium. Morphine is the Opiate processed from Opium. It isn't something where more chemicals have to be added to make it, the active ingredient in Morphine (morphine) is already IN opium. In fact raw opium is still used in western medicine (although not as predominantly as it once was) and widely in less developed parts of the world. Opium is so far from a 'drug that is in no way good for you' that we refined it and use it in MASSIVE QUANTITIES on a daily basis. It is like saying that ice is poisonous but water is not really. As for Morphine not treating any major medical problem we have to take a couple things into account. In the time frame of this game, if you took an arrow to the stomach, you were going to die. Even as late as during the American civil war, after battles soldiers would check themselves to see if they had been 'gut shot'... as if you were shot in the stomach, there was nothing that medicine could do for you... they couldn't repair internal organs and if you were gut shot it was time to make peace with whatever god or gods you may happen to believe in, send a letter to momma/wife/kids and get ready to meet your maker. Given that a single arrow killing you would be really annoying... I doubt that should be incorporated into the game. That leaves us in a position where we must infer that injuries taken from enemies are not to vital organs and are deep wounds. Outside of excessive bleeding (which can be fixed by a tightly bound bandage provided it isn't over an artery or something) the biggest problem these injuries cause is pain. Once again, I know what most people are probably thinking, "pain hurts but it can't kill you right?". The pain isn't what will kill you, it is more along the lines of what comes after that. If a human (or any animal really) experiences a great deal... like say being stabbed half a dozen times and taking an arrow through each leg's worth of pain... there is a good chance that they will go into shock. This is because the body begins to slow down... the heart slows, breathing slows.... and ultimately you collapse in a state of shock. Assuming that you are probably bleeding from your injuries (internally or externally) blood loss will compound with this... this lack of blood will prevent oxygen from going to your brain... this results in a coma... and given that self treating a coma is just as humorous a concept as it sounds, death is pretty much assured. With the use of morphine however your body wouldn't have slowed down and the downward spiral wouldn't have started. I suppose an argument could also be made for alcohol in this situation and I would have to concede that you are correct... alcohol was used as a less effective but highly functional alternative for many years. It would help numb the body to the pain if taken in the more obvious method and could help with sterilizing the wound if applied externally. Aspirin Aspirin is far FAR more than just a painkiller in fact Aspirin is probably the closest thing to a miracle drug that mankind has developed (next to possibly penicillin) in the last 2000 years. Aspirin helps by lowering fevers and by acting as a blood thinner. "Blood thinner and fever reducer... That wouldn't help with a broken leg" you say. Well actually... here is where that basically gets turned on its head. When you think of a broken leg you think of the cast that is over your leg and about how you limp around for a month or so until the bone mends itself naturally. Given that this is the telltale sign that someone has broken their leg it becomes easy to understand how that might be construed as a cure... however the real problem with a broken limb isn't the fact that it takes a long time to mend... hell, the concept of a splint and bandages to hold it have been around for many years. The thing is though that if you break a leg and you just align it and bandage it into place well... you are still basically screwed... because of something known as Osteomyelitis what is colloquially known as bone poisoning which is caused by bacteria getting into the bone (a huge risk in the days before sanitation practices). When your body tries to fight this infection you get a fever, if the fever goes up, your blood pressure goes up... if your blood pressure gets high enough (a real risk in the days before Aspirin) the high fever can cause the cellular structure of your body to break down which would result in either a need for amputation or death. Convenient how Aspirin solves both the fever and blood pressure issues right?I won't claim that Aspirin would cure the mumps, measles or black death... but it actually does give your body a fighting chance to resist it, a far stretch more than any kind of other natural medicine available at this time. Outside of these two, Sambucol (elderberry syrup) and possibly Goldenseal (an anti-microbial) there are no medicines that are 'universal' enough not to actually have a specific illness mechanic to overcome and requiring a specific medicine. And that kind of system would be far more problematic than any kind of benefit it would provide. Mental Health: Mental health is a bit much to include, mental health issues (outside of outright insanity... i.e. a man who thinks his REAL name is Spudwick the Ethereal Gopher and who spends his days fist fighting herds of bovines to honor his god, which also happens to be a wheel of cheese... like that kind of insanity) weren't even really recognized until VERY recent history... not to say they weren't problems but no kinds of medication really existed yet and most were attributed to 'possession' or 'outright insanity' (see Spudwick statement above to clarify on definition of insanity). The treatments used weren't even effective and even most modern treatments are 'meh' in effect. Just as some example that might be feasible... Nerve Stimulation (male): Men were usually given hot and cold showers, oftentimes simply being dunked into water repeatedly. Highly ineffective, can cause stress and make the condition even worse. Nerve Stimulation (female): I will not define exactly how this was done but the doctors sure did know how to put the Rapist in Therapist. Highly ineffective, ads emotional trauma. I truly feel sorry for the women in asylums during this time period. Jitters / Shell Shock: Victims were treated with small doses of cocaine mixed in a tonic, this was actually pretty effect but only treated symptoms not the condition. There really isn't much that can be done on the mental health side of things, and I have to wonder whether people would actually find it advantageous or detrimental to the game and personally I fall on the side of the second. Note: Being cold getting somebody sick is a common misconception, but the old wives tails do a have a bit of truth in them. Cold and Flu viruses do not thrive in warm climates and actually do better in cold environments. Additionally, getting cold when you are already sick can prevent the travel of white blood cells that are needed to fight foreign bodies. As such why if you stay warm when sick you will get over it quicker... thats boring so lets just call it magic!
  13. TerraFirma+ : Medicine & Health

    I like the idea of this but a part of me thinks it could add more nuisances to the game than it could add player investment. To that end, what do you think of the idea of, instead of numerous medical conditions that require specialty things to cure... how about lessening the normal healing over time from Vanilla and add medical items which restore health. There are already plenty of items in the game which could be used.Poppy could be included as a farmable resource which could be processed into Morphine/Opium. Poppies are already present in the vanilla game. Aspirin is derived from salicylic acid... which is commonly found in Willow Bark... Willow is already in TFC. Sambucus has been used for years to treat all manner of ailments and it is nothing more than Elderberries, which I believe will be added in the next patch. Each would require only a basic addition to the game. Morphine/Opium - Convert Poppy to Poppy Seed (would allow for replanting and creating opium). Put seeds into barrel of water. Wait x amount of time. Remove opium goo from bottom of barrel, roast for a short time to dry it out... and suddenly morphine. Aspirin - Use a chisel on a willow tree to get willow bark. Put willow bark into a barrel of water and leave to sit for X time. Bottle to have Aspirin tea. Sambucus - Add suger, water, elderberry and and a glass bottle to make Sambucus syrup.
  14. Hunting Expanded / Aesthetically Enhanced

    A bit random, and a tad off topic although given it is my own thread and the direction it is going I feel slightly less bad for doing so.... Is there any reason why an add-on mod to Terrafirmacraft couldn't be developed. Something like the "Terrafirmacraft Hyper Realism Ultra Mega Patch MK9001" that adds in things the original developers left out for balance/proprietary reasons. A mod that would function alongside TFC but add things like Wolf Meat, Seqoya Sapplings, animal guts, muskets etc? It seems like something like this could be fairly simple for those of us who would like these things added. Thoughts, concerns, prayer requests?
  15. More animal byproducts?

    I like the idea of Offal however I can understand that most people don't really like it. In the western world liver is probably the only commonly consumed organ meat (given pate', and liver and onions. Outside of that everything is really regional, i.e. chicken hearts and gizzards are popular in the southeastern US, kidney pie is still a think in England and the Scots still seem to like their Haggis but most folks don't like that kind of stuff so it is understandable that it is left out. I do think that we should be able to cook bones for Marrow but that is neither here nor there.Fat is a great idea. Rendering fat for lard is a pretty common practice and is used for a great many things. Lard can be used to treat wood, make candles, prevent metal from rusting, lubricate primitive machines and the list goes on. I could actually see lard being used to repair an item... not in the sense that you would fill the cracks in your copper pickaxe with lard improving its structural integrity, but that it would represent maintenance and improve the 'life expectancy' of the tool. While tools crafted from bone would be 'meh' in usage, one exception I would like to see is the standard bone being able to function as a weapon. If nothing else a big bone makes a lovely crude mace and is far more effective than your fists. Catgut Bowstrings - Actually on the side of bowstrings, gross factor never really came into why they stopped making them out of catgut (which was never really made of cat guts). The primary reason why it stopped was because bows fell out of favor next to firearms, and when bow hunting became popular again not only had the compound bow replaced the recurve bow but other stronger materials had taken catgut's place. By this point virtually any sewing thread was even stronger than catgut and much MUCH cheaper. Having said that traditionalist hunters who prefer to use a recurve bow often use strings made of catgut or horsehair. Given that a wire cored polymer bowstring is about 1/10 of the price, far more durable and will usually last a lifetime for a casual user it fell out of popularity entirely because you could get a better product much cheaper.