jorb wrote:ITT: We explain why eating at 300% food efficacy is correct.
I'm mostly a lurker on the forums but I thought I'd throw my two cents in.
edit: I am mostly voicing my opinion in this situation because I disagree pretty heavily with other posters here. (see post above this one)
Let me start by saying I love the food system for being so unique - the stat gain, the food diversity (through satiation) and the whole table mechanics.
In my mind, the biggest issues with the 300% Food Efficacy (and hunger bar) is that it doesn't make much sense (thematically or gameplay-wise). The survival element of the game should promote proper nutrition of a character, whereas currently it promotes being as close to starvation as possible. And since food is hardly a problem once established, there is no risk involved with running a character ravenous 100% of the time.
While I haven't given any deep thought on the mechanic; I would think that rather than making stages of hunger, it would just be a value on a scale -- where hunger grants additional food efficacy like it currently does but also negatively impacts players stats. Then on the other end of the scale, the food efficacy goes down but there is a slight buff to stats.
I can see this promoting two different types of interaction with food. Those that want rapid character growth will stay towards the hungry-side but be impacted by the negative buff the further into hunger they go. While other characters would rather have a buff and therefore need to maintain very high levels of food consumption (thus creating more demand on food production making it more scarce).
I envision this system lending itself to a giant feast before a battle/hunt as everyone wants top notch stats.
On the topic of satiation and food diversity; No matter how complex of a system it is, there is always going to be an optimal route for the meta/hardcore players to take. By having satiation though, it removes the simple act of "make the one true food" and makes the food selection feel more diverse and interesting. For this reason, I like the system.
Sorry for the wall of text and I hope it provides food for thought.