Food preservation in large vs small vessels

[SeraphineDreams 0]

One of the things that has been bothering me about the food preservation is the concept that food decays slower in an open container that you are carrying on you than it does in a sealed vessel that you have in a dark room. Even with the temperature mechanic, the change isn't enough to make up for the difference. Granted, you can put small vessels into the large ones and get the modifier, but in terms of convenience and believability, it would be better to apply the slowed decay to the large vessel with an increased modifier when the barrel is sealed. Like a decay modifier of .25 when unsealed and .5 (the current for small vessels) when sealed.

 

If you really wanted to have fun with it, (and keep in mind I am not a programmer, so I'm not sure how complicated or difficult this would be) you could set up a mechanic where every time the container is unsealed it cancels the increase for a time after the container is resealed.

 

For example: A player has two large vessels that they keep in a storehouse. They put their harvested veggies in both containers, and immediately seal both. As winter hits, they open one container to grab food, thus allowing bacteria, moisture, and fresh air into the vessel. The container that hasn't been breached is still enjoying the .5 decreased decay from being sealed, but the container the player just opened goes back to regular .25 for few days or so before going back up to .5.

 

You could also add a modifier to the time it takes to go back to the default rate if you wanted. By placing salt in the vessel before sealing, it would decrease the time to go back to the .5 rate (Salt sucks the moisture out of the air and prevents bacterial growth). And it takes up an inventory slot.

 

It might be OP to be able to still put small vessels in the large vessels, even if they no longer have the decay modifier, so I'd recommend not being able to do so anymore, or possibly having a decreased modifier for using the large vessel to hold small vessels worth of food. Or requiring the player to add straw, wool or some other packing material to the large vessel for every small vessel they add to it (insulation or simply protecting the small vessels from smashing each other).

 

 

[Kittychanley 1,002]

The reason that small vessels have a preservation mechanic on them and large vessels don't is entirely due to balance. This is definitely one of the cases where "believability" is entirely based on us throwing some things out the window in favor of balanced gameplay.

• A small vessel can hold a total of 320 ounces of food, at 50% decay rate.
• A large vessel can hold a total of 1,440 ounces of food when putting it directly in the slots, or 2,880 ounces if you put it in small vessels first.
• A barrel can hold a total of 1,920 ounces of food when putting directly in the slots, or 3,840 ounces if it you put it in small vessels first.

Remember that both a large vessel and a barrel can be sealed and carried on your back, so all that food is also portable.

 

By putting the food in the small vessel, you are making a trade; a slower decay rate in exchange for more inventory management of actually getting the food in your hand so you can eat it.

 

Also note that there are methods in place for using a large vessel/barrel to get preservation (pickling), but it was intentionally limited so that you only have access to a single slot (which can hold up to 160 oz) because it results in the food essentially lasting for an infinite period of time.

 

 

As the system currently stands, there are already a good chunk of players who are complaining that food is too easy, and that they have too much of it just sitting around. By adding this extremely easy method of preservation, it only makes that problem worse, especially considering that a lot of players are already storing their food in large vessels and barrels anyways.

[SeraphineDreams 0]

Thank you for explaining. That makes sense, I just wish the small vessels had a way to open them without picking them up like the large vessels do!

[Kittychanley 1,002]

The only way that we can make that possible is if we change it so that you can only put a single small vessel in a block. The way the pottery block is currently designed is that it is essentially a chest with 4 slots, that has no interface. When you place down the small vessel, you are putting it in one of the four slots. At that point in time it is nothing but an item, that has it's internal inventory stored in some NBT tags. When you right click to open a small vessel in your hand, all of that NBT data is transferred from the small vessel into a "container" that creates item stacks to put in the slots. When you close the vessel interface, the item stacks are saved back onto the NBT data of the item, and the container is essentially destroyed.

 

For the exact same reason that you cannot access the inventory a sealed barrel that is inside of a chest, you cannot access the inventory a small vessel that has been placed on the ground as a pottery block.

[AllenWL 186]

You know, I would like it if you could put food in large vessels/barrels and seal it to preserve it at a lesser rate then small vessels(say, half the preservation of small vessels), but not be able to put small vessels in large vessels or barrels, so you can either put it in small vessels for more preservation but also more cumbersome inventory managing, or put it in large vessels//barrels for less preservation but easier inventory managing.

[Bunsan 323]

Please no. My exploring pack is a barrel full of vessels and a few other things. Not being able to put small vessels in a barrel would be a huge loss in exploration and mining.

[landryx 36]

Absolutely.