Why is food needed?

[stabbo]

I just lost my best character to starvation, in a really stupid way. The stores didn't have any identify scrolls and there weren't any staffs in the magic shop.

Usually what I do when this happens is just go down to 50', find a corridor, hold down shift key, and run back and forth. It usually works, but this time I happened to forget about eating beforehand.

A completely avoidable death, I admit. It does, however, make me question what the point of food is in the first place. I can see it being an interesting addition to an iron man game but in a normal one it's just an annoyance that brings nothing to the game.

[SaThaRiel]

Have you ever read Lord of the rings? Food is an essential topic in the books.
Also it adds some more realism to the game. You need food - everyone needs it.
Elvish waybread also heals. You can gorge yourself. So its a base element for gameplay.

Your way of waiting for new items in the store is bad. First you should look at the disturbance options, they seem to be a bit "lax". Additionally why don't you go down to 50' and rest for 1000 steps? Much easier.

[stabbo]

Have you ever read Lord of the rings? Food is an essential topic in the books.
Also it adds some more realism to the game. You need food - everyone needs it.
Elvish waybread also heals. You can gorge yourself. So its a base element for gameplay.

Your way of waiting for new items in the store is bad. First you should look at the disturbance options, they seem to be a bit "lax". Additionally why don't you go down to 50' and rest for 1000 steps? Much easier.

But then if it's about realism, why not add drinking? Making resting mandatory? It seems strange to just have food.

The resting for a 1000 steps is a good idea though, thanks. As for waiting around, is there some way better to do it? I guess I could buy out the store but I don't always have the cash for that.

[SaThaRiel]

But then if it's about realism, why not add drinking? Making resting mandatory? It seems strange to just have food.

I think, you have to see food as drinking and eating. At least i tend to do it. Otherwise you backpack gets too overloaded with the stuff to survive and you don't have any more space for the treasure

There will be better ideas for the store refilling. The best would be just to go down again and slay some more monsters

[buzzkill]

I think, you have to see food as drinking and eating. At least i tend to do it. Otherwise you backpack gets too overloaded with the stuff to survive and you don't have any more space for the treasure

There will be better ideas for the store refilling. The best would be just to go down again and slay some more monsters

Food is flavor, gorge before you enter the dungeon. Combined with any food you may find, it should last you until you would naturally return to town. I never carry food, even without a spell handy. It's a non-issue for me.

My issue is, do we need healing potions to cause gorging? Should something designed to help you actually cause harm? I can see mushrooms and waybread, but potions? If healing potions do provide nourishment, why don't other potions? It's-Ill-logic-al.

If all potions provided nourishment you might not need to carry food, or could at the very least survive longer without it. It would benefit Ironman as well. I'm not normally one for making the game easier but this just makes sense.

During my recent battle with Morgoth, I was constantly gorged. Really annoying. Also, why doesn't increased speed cause increased food consumption. It's entirely logical for it to do so. Moving and performing every action at 2x or 3x or 4x speed should cause 2x or 3x or 4x food consumption, couple that with regeneration (increased consumption) and you've got something (as much as 8x), a blessing vs. Morgoth.

[tigpup]

If food wasn't in the game, it would be amongst the first things many people would ask for. Personally, I'm in favour if more (rather than less) basic consumable management. I'd remove the satisfy hunger spell and force all classes to be concerned about food. Permanent light is not so bad as it's available to all. Dying of starvation is one of the more realistic ways of dying in a dungeon IMHO.

[stabbo]

If food wasn't in the game, it would be amongst the first things many people would ask for. Personally, I'm in favour if more (rather than less) basic consumable management. I'd remove the satisfy hunger spell and force all classes to be concerned about food. Permanent light is not so bad as it's available to all. Dying of starvation is one of the more realistic ways of dying in a dungeon IMHO.

But to be fair, realism isn't exactly a selling point of this game. It's set in Middle Earth. Most aspects of the game are completely unrealistic.

When you fire an arrow and there isn't anything to hit, it just drops at your feet.

You can adventure in a dank dirty dungeon without any means of cooking any food you find and yet will never become ill.

You never need to sleep.

Poison wears off within minutes, deep cuts heal equally as quickly and yet it takes quite a long time to recover health.

[tigpup]

Agreed: angband is a game, not a sim. My point remains; keep food. Starving to death at 50' whilst store-scumming should teach a valuable lesson. That lesson is not; remove food from the game.

[kaypy]

As an aside:

Number of warnings before you need to waste 1 turn dealing with an empty light source: 8

Number of warnings before you pass out and get eaten by an embarrassingly lowly monster: 3. Including "You are no longer full"

Just sayin'...

[stabbo]

Agreed: angband is a game, not a sim. My point remains; keep food. Starving to death at 50' whilst store-scumming should teach a valuable lesson. That lesson is not; remove food from the game.

The fact that a character died is moot. The topic was started because I was curious as to why food is in the game in the first place. I'm well aware of the fact that the death was avoidable.

As an aside:

Number of warnings before you need to waste 1 turn dealing with an empty light source: 8

Number of warnings before you pass out and get eaten by an embarrassingly lowly monster: 3. Including "You are no longer full"

Just sayin'...

Good point.

[PowerDiver]

My issue is, do we need healing potions to cause gorging? Should something designed to help you actually cause harm? I can see mushrooms and waybread, but potions? If healing potions do provide nourishment, why don't other potions? It's-Ill-logic-al.

I am also opposed to the gorging possiblity from healing potions. Perhaps they should "cure" a percentage of your empty stomach if food value is really required.

IMO potions should cause the same effects as the spells. If casting healing spells does not gorge you, neither should quaffing potions.

[Lord Fell]

I think a more happy-medium would be to really reduce the fullness factor that potions cause. I'm not sure what a potion causes... I think a mushroom gives a food value of 250, so a potion is 150? maybe? How about a potion, instead, gives you a fullness of 10; a very tiny amount of food (apple & slime mold juices being the exception).

If a person is actually starving to death because of a lack of food, and out of Recall, there would be some benefit to chugging the potion supply.

[Whelk]

In 3.1.2v2, potions, at least the lower curing ones that I've got on me presently, nourish for "around 75 turns." I know I've gotten in a scrape at least once where they saved me from starvation.

[Starhawk]

If food wasn't in the game, it would be amongst the first things many people would ask for. Personally, I'm in favour if more (rather than less) basic consumable management. I'd remove the satisfy hunger spell and force all classes to be concerned about food. Permanent light is not so bad as it's available to all. Dying of starvation is one of the more realistic ways of dying in a dungeon IMHO.

Riiiiight, and if we're going to get that realistic, then dead monsters should leave nice, meaty corpses that I can cook with my flame-branded artifact weapon.

ADOM does this in a good way, but I doubt it is worthwhile to add to Angband.

[Nick]

I know I've gotten in a scrape at least once where they saved me from starvation.

I once quaffed about 15 !Healing to allow me to dig Narya out of a GCV...