PC Food poisoning and dysentery

It is strange that canned food now has advantages over self-prepared food after it was always the other way around in the past.

But you can adapt to it if you play very methodically, which I fortunately do. I don't see it as an additional challenge. Rather an inconvenience.

 
Everyone acts like canned food is so OP. At best you get 15 max stamina back per can. To get back your stamina from empty to full takes a heck of a lot of canned food. I don't know what you are all doing all day but I have to refill my stamina bar a few times a day. Unless I spend all my time looking for and buying canned food I can't keep up.

 
Better cooking skill should equal lower food poisoning chance?
Who says that the food poisoning is from poor cooking?

This is the zombie apocalypse. There are animals running around, many of which are already diseased and rotting. Who KNOWS how the zombie plague is affecting the deer, snakes, chickens, wolves, rabbits, and boars in the game. Are they diseased with some form of the zombie plague? are they just diseased in general? Sick?

There are also burned forests, rotting corpses, and radiation zones in the world...and we're drinking standing groundwater? We expect a little bit of boiling to completely remove the danger from doing that? We're also eating plants grown in compromised soil, affected by who knows what toxins and radiation. Heck, "rotting flesh" is even one of the ingredients in the farm plots. This flesh is diseased by some zombie-making super-plague, don't forget. And we're eating corn grown in it, and surprised when we get sick.

The lore, and common sense, completely supports the sickness chance from non-canned food.

What's more, it's a gameplay decision as well....If food should have a danger associated with it, and the Devs seem to think so, then they need to be somewhat balanced. canned food requires an up front risk of zombies and death and infection in order to loot it. It also isn't endlessly renewable. Grown food has no innate risk up front, but you COULD lose all the food you ate and more if the food poisoning hits. It requires an investment of time, effort, maybe skills, and land area though, so the risk for the grown food is tempered somewhat by the fact that if you CAN mass produce enough of it, then the risk of losing your food to food poisoning is significantly mitigated.
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While I am not as irked as some about the whole food poisoning from food you make I would like to point this out: Being a better cook in real life does actually equal less run in's with food poisoning. That's because a good cook practices proper food safety procedures! They recognize the tell tell early signs of food spoilage and throw food out that is unsafe to eat or turning. they understand how long something can be kept before it turns, and understand how to properly fix/store food so it is safe to eat later.

Every person I've ever known who was dumb in the kitchen was feeling it later when they are frequently ill due to food borne illness. I've sat down and talked people through their entire procedures when cooking at home to figure out why they keep getting sick so they stop calling out over food illness. You'd be surprised how many people who cook don't follow basic food safety procedures and feel the consequences later. I can see how a point or two into Master Chef could reduce food poisoning percentage because they just understand how to cook/handle food better.

 
Yeah, the 4% food poisoning chance should go down with Master Chef skill. Food poisoning is nothing but a pain in the ass, especially after the first day or two, it becomes nothing more than an annoyance. The Iron Gut skill seems like it was added just to counter the new food poisoning, and creating a new annoyance that can be fixed by investing a skill point or two is pretty r-word, and imo just not good game design.
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Good thing is that vending machines spawn need foods every day. And easier it gets when you keep finding more vending machine locations. Doing couple of mission to trader you buy food for days. And now when eating better food doesnt affect your max health. It comes by player level. So there is away around it. And now need to waste skill points on early game to iron gut.

 
Canned food is endlessly renewable and is easier to obtain than farming and hunting for animals to kill. With just a little bit of money you can buy so much canned food from the different vending machines located around. They also renew their inventory every day. So every day you can go to a couple different buildings and possibly get a ton of food a lot easier than you can with the other methods. Also canned food, after a time, does become unsafe to eat. Just because something is canned doesn't automatically make it last forever. So why shouldn't we have a chance to get sick from eating that food as well? Also, why doesn't boiling water get rid of the sickness but using that same water to turn it in to tea magically does?
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And what happens, pray tell when said "Food Gods" (vending machines) Eventually get nerfed to only have food say...once a week? and less of it. I doubt they get filled by a single person, or heck a flock of people daily, too much risk* of drawing hordes to whatever convoy is transporting all this canned food and bottled teas to these vending machines (I mean, it makes no sense in the case of the POI vending machines at all, if anything, those ones should be One and Done with its inventory and require old cash as payment)

I tend not to use vending machines for this very reason, they make no sense from both a game-play and lore perspective...the ones in the traders get a pass as a way for them to entice people to spend more on the way IN and OUT, just like those shelves near check stands with candy and gum, impulse buys...but otherwise they shouldn't exist anywhere else unless they were one and done inventories.

IMO canned food is wonderful as quest rewards (buried supplies) and occasionally in loot. (Shamway, it makes sense as it was a grocer for the area)

&Canned Foods& (at least veggies and meats excluding tomatoes and citrus fruits can last 5+ years in cans, and even longer if keep in the dark away from water

@Boiled water/teas@ Boiling water wouldn't remove particulates from the water itself so yes, it would make you sick, chances would be much lower than straight from the source, and as for teas making it "magically ok" might be due to antioxidant effects of the herbs we added, they would neutralize the leftover sickness inducing bits and still retain enough potency to have a beneficial effect

*This is lore based for the game, driving vehicles, dealing with lights, existing, and sounds draw infected to you, filling a vending machine, which works on a drop mechanic to dispense its items would create a gathering point for the dead, because it makes noise to run (low hum from cooling/electricity) and the food dropping in the chute

#These are all my personal views and opinions and I don't expect a lot of support on my views

 
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"Ramethzer0 has died of Dysentery."

I keep waiting for this to happen. I've had it twice now.

I've also started to rationalize cooking in this game (as a professional chef myself) that the animals are just plain sick to begin with.

 
The only time i can see either of the 2 being any kind of problem is when you are first starting out. after a couple days it is very easy to never have to deal with either again. food is not hard to get, if u get poison you just eat more. and dys is probably the easiest thing ever to avoid or get rid of if u get it. pick red flowers or yucca make drink, never get dys. if you do get it, pick yellow flower make drink and its gone. i just keep a few in the chest just in case so its gone instantly.

 
And what happens, pray tell when said "Food Gods" (vending machines) Eventually get nerfed to only have food say...once a week? and less of it. I doubt they get filled by a single person, or heck a flock of people daily, too much risk* of drawing hordes to whatever convoy is transporting all this canned food and bottled teas to these vending machines (I mean, it makes no sense in the case of the POI vending machines at all, if anything, those ones should be One and Done with its inventory and require old cash as payment)
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Totally agree, and i myself keep this vending machine thing ridiculous. Probably those machines will not be removed from the game, at least sync them with trader resupply which seems to be horde interval.

But for other more casual or normal players they might be the life line or starting players who are just learning the game.

In my own games i am going to modify whole vending machine, so it just one object in world which can be taken apart with wrench. And not to drop any loot, just parts.

 
I still have 50 meat/vegi stews so whenever I puke I shove in some stews afterwards. That's not a real challenge.
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until it happens in the middle of a trader quest and you have 5 pieces of food on you :D

 
AI tend not to use vending machines for this very reason, they make no sense from both a game-play and lore perspective...the ones in the traders get a pass as a way for them to entice people to spend more on the way IN and OUT, just like those shelves near check stands with candy and gum, impulse buys...but otherwise they shouldn't exist anywhere else unless they were one and done inventories.
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What lore does it go against?

 
I put my first points in the four universally beneficial Fortitude perks.

So: (eventually)

- 4 points in the attribute.

- 3 points in Iron Gut.

- 3 points in Healing Factor.

- 3 points in Cardio.

- 3 points in Pain Tolerance.

Edit: Ever since I started my builds this way, I have not died.

 
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What lore does it go against?
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the whole "don't make noise because you'll draw a horde?" Lore in this example is based on a player's experience since the world has a lack of actual story, it would make no sense to noisily refill vending machines in the open EVERYDAY, that's just begging for screamers, demolishers and plain old zombies to follow your convoy back to whatever warehouse the food is produced at

 
the whole "don't make noise because you'll draw a horde?" Lore in this example is based on a player's experience since the world has a lack of actual story, it would make no sense to noisily refill vending machines in the open EVERYDAY, that's just begging for screamers, demolishers and plain old zombies to follow your convoy back to whatever warehouse the food is produced at
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Ok I wanted to be sure I understood you. What about the whole Trader deal in the game? They use a very loud speaker system to announce their opening and closing? I would think that would count as lore too.

 
Ok I wanted to be sure I understood you. What about the whole Trader deal in the game? They use a very loud speaker system to announce their opening and closing? I would think that would count as lore too.
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this true, and I think its why when they add bandits (you know, NPC's that can use doors) the trader will probably have guards that shoot anything hostile nearby (or bat them to death) and he only announces thrice daily (opening and near/closing) and since those are quick 30 second messages, pinpointing it from a distance would be tougher than say, a group at each vending machine thumping around for 15+ minutes plus emptying a bucket of noisy coins into a sack or bucket (emptying the daily haul) its takes a bit of time to do everything in a vending machine, I've helped a new guy for a local vending company hold the door open and hold the gates open while he dropped product into place (not quiet I assure you)

Just so we are clear, my main gripe is just that vending machines refill WAYYY to quickly, and are too numerous for the area...so I avoid them, but for new players, I would guess they are a boon

 
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meh..

The cure for food sickness and dysentry is to eat more food and dring more drink. Food is more scarce in the start because you cannot perk all seeds with one perk and fields are a lot more anemic but all in all food poisoning has not presented a single problem yet.

I think I survived off of charred meat for the first 14 days this last game.

 
Food Poisoning

I have finally taken steps to mod out the Food Poisoning issue on my rented server (many thanks to UberNoober for the mod).

I feel like I'm playing roulette every time I eat a boiled meat or stew and for me at least, the chance for poisoning seems much higher than 4%. I usually eat about 4 times in a row, waiting between each bite until the icon disappears, and I seem to get poisoned every second time I eat a batch of 4. This then starts the inevitable hunt for more food because of course my crops are not fully grown by then.

I much preferred the previous Alpha's option of a chance of food poisoning when eating canned food, than the fresh food that I have put a lot of effort into gathering and cooking.

Your thoughts?

 
Eat canned when you can't risk it, use vitamins when you really need the good food, until you have Iron Guts 4. I've been poisoned once in A18, the first time I played it.

Now early game I hoard vitamins and gorge on sham sandwiches when I'm hungry.

 
I never seem to have enough vitamins especially as I am often building or gardening. I certainly use them whenever they are available to me.

I just feel that after putting so much time and effort into growing my own garden and hunting, this issue is a real pain. I sometimes feel that maybe I should forget cooking food and gardening, and just raid the POI's for food.

 
I like the change and I haven't had the same experience tbh. For example I only got food poisoning 2 times in 15h mainly eating grilled meat and other lowish stuff. Also, when you start cooking the high end stuff and start producing food, it becomes completely non-issue.

Cans are somewhat valuable now as opposed to before when there was little reason for their existence. I like that (even though I was hoping they will become valuable through spoilage if they ever decided to implement it). Vitamins are also more valuable. The current low chance of food poisoning makes for a small food sink, at least in the early/mid game which was needed imo.

 
I like the change and I haven't had the same experience tbh. For example I only got food poisoning 2 times in 15h mainly eating grilled meat and other lowish stuff. Also, when you start cooking the high end stuff and start producing food, it becomes completely non-issue.
Cans are somewhat valuable now as opposed to before when there was little reason for their existence. I like that (even though I was hoping they will become valuable through spoilage if they ever decided to implement it). Vitamins are also more valuable. The current low chance of food poisoning makes for a small food sink, at least in the early/mid game which was needed imo.
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I've gotten food poisoning three times in a row.

Tbh, the system as it is now punish you a lot in the early game and is more or less inconsequential and irrelevant in the late game. It's no point in cooking at all until you leveled up enough to make stew and farm veggies really. The early cooked food give to little health to be worth the risk, which is 1 in 25. It's way too high. When you can stack tons of stew, it's a non-issue since you just eat another stew and cancel out the whole effect.

I feel it's a bit lazy on the developers side. They should add unique and varied percentages for food poisoning for all types of food. And take into consideration for these the leveling up curve to make the system relevant at all. Low level foods should have a lower percentage, like 1-2% only, and so should canned food too.

 
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