Meal Preparation Station Update Suggestion

[DigitoriiX 0]

I feel as if the meal stations deserve some more love in the suggestions because they're quite useful but not optimally intuative, mostly because they're invisible and you can't easily recognize where they are. But instead of fixing just that, I've come up with a total overhaul of the mechanics of the meal stations.

The current procedure of making a meal station is quite strange and finnicky - rightclicking a block with a knife creates some invisible block that is a hassle to destroy and might be accidentally placed in the world without you knowing (because they're invisible).

Also, creating a meal station in the same block where another block is (perhaps creating a meal station on top of other meal stations until you run into a block) will simply overwrite the block and not drop it. That bug can be easily fixed, however it still doesn't help that there's these invisible slates everywhere.

A simple way to clear up this problem is to have dedicated meal preparation tables that you can craft and place in the world. A simple recipe for a meal preparation table could look something like this:

And out of that, you get a meal preparation table that would look something like this (very rough outline):

This table will take up two blocks, so it will need the room in the world to successfully be placed, like doors.

- The bottom half would be just the visual table and have no interactive effect other than holding the meal station itself.

- The meal station on top, which could be the same transparent slate it is now.

The meal station will automatically be destroyed if there is no table underneath to support it. The table should be easily broken by an axe or saw, much like a plank block. This solves both the overwrite block destruction bug and the hassle of popping them everywhere accidentally and not knowing, as you can see where they are with the visual table block.

The knife, then, should be used in the production of a meal (because, let's face it, the knife is underused so far). Another slot in the GUI for a knife should be added similar to an anvil:

1 durability of the knife will be taken away for every ingredient used in the meal (so all four ingredient slots used = -4 durability). If the knife doesn't have enough durability to meet the requirements, either the "Create Meal" button could be disabled, or the meal could be finished regardless and the knife breaks. I'll leave that up to whoever to decide.

That's it for now. If there's anything that someone thinks could add to the upgrade of these meal station mechanics, I'll edit them in below.

[Livid 8]

very nice, but i think the grphics for the table could be more good

[Thorin 4]

The fact that these are not easily recognizable, I sadly have to agree with it.

But it should look a little better then a presure plate on a fence, no offense.

However I made it more visible in my world by sticking a toolrack (with a knife) on the front of said block that holds the preparation area. So I know that, that is my preperation block.

Next to it, I've got my quern, a food storage chest/cabinet and a 'water hole' in case my toes are thirsty.

So the whole set up looks a bit like a kitchen and if you leave some food stuff in it, it look neat too.

[DigitoriiX 0]

As for the concern with the graphics, it was a rough outline. I made it with the 2x2x16-pixel planks. Of course it's terrible, I didn't want to spend my entire day trying to create my own block with custom dimensions and textures, that's the developer's job It was basically an outline for the general shape/color.

[Thorin 4]

Hahaha, right you are.

If it were linked to something in the texturepack. Then I probably made it look like a cuttingboard or something similiar, that got placed upon it. And the block besides it (with an indent), so it looks like a waterbasin/sink.

[Sda215 8]

Hm... interesting idea, DigitoriiX-san. Though, I have not played the latest updates of TFC quite yet, I think this could be a good tweak for the meal preparation mechanic.

[Bihlbo 29]

Great suggestion!

I'm not a fan of your recipe for the table, though. As it stands you can place a log and it's an adequate table. You are suggesting it should be 3 logs (or 2 and 3/8ths). That seems excessive for as little as it does. Just make it 5 planks in a T shape. Also, I think the table you whipped up looks perfect.

[Walmart Germaphobe 15]

I think that should be the first meal table. There should be an advanced table with more slots that can make the more potent effects instead of any old meal table making a 4 power meal

[DigitoriiX 0]

I'm not a fan of your recipe for the table, though. As it stands you can place a log and it's an adequate table. You are suggesting it should be 3 logs (or 2 and 3/8ths). That seems excessive for as little as it does. Just make it 5 planks in a T shape. Also, I think the table you whipped up looks perfect.

Think about it. How hard is it to get 3 logs? Does it really make a difference?

I think that should be the first meal table. There should be an advanced table with more slots that can make the more potent effects instead of any old meal table making a 4 power meal

Maybe. I think that would get a little carried away, though. Possibly on an advanced table with more than 4 slots, the meal could be a large meal and have multiple uses? That would be interesting.

[Bihlbo 29]

Think about it. How hard is it to get 3 logs? Does it really make a difference?

Yes, it absolutely does. Maybe you and I don't have similar personalities, but for people like me the concept that a basic table takes a lot more wood than a scribing table is like paying more for an apple than for an apple pie. It's wrong. (maybe not sane, though)

[davoval0001 19]

I love the idea, although i think it would have to have a completely differt skin to mkae it stand out from everything else....If this was to go ahead, there would have to be many different varients as some people would like marble kitchen tops etc....

I think that should be the first meal table. There should be an advanced table with more slots that can make the more potent effects instead of any old meal table making a 4 power meal

Yeah good, although how would we make it more advanced?