Inedible chunks are pointless

[Aule]

This change replaces poisonous chunks with inedible chunks.

Problem:

If I were just starting to play the game, and I butchered a scorpion corpse to eat it, only to find I had wasted my time, then I likely would be confused. "Why are scorpion chunks inedible, but not adder chunks?" I would ask. They even look the same in webtiles; that is, they look edible, (presumably because I have on rPois.) It seems to me that it would be more intuitive and non-spoilery, given the purpose of the change, to just make the chunks like all the rest; that is, edible.

If this simply must be a one for one tradeoff for formerly the poisonous so as not to increase food availability (in those few places where it is relevant for this case), then please just make the inedible corpses not butcherable.

As it stands right now, it's somewhat unclear why some are edible and others are inedible, for any new players. It also is a bit counterintuitive for experienced players wearing rPois, given that the butchered chunks appear to be edible, but aren't.

Edit: Also, is one expected to have a mental catalog of all formerly poisonous chunk-able corpses, so as not to waste time butchering them? Another possible solution (also added below) is to have it say, "You see an inedible scorpion corpse," or the like, so as to at the very least provide some information about what is happening, now.

Proposed solutions:

1.) Make "inedible" (formerly poisonous) chunks just edible.

2.) Make inedible chunk producing corpses non-butcherable.

3.) Make corpses that will produce inedible chunks be labeled as inedible in the game messages. Edit #2: Or grayed, as unusable. In fact, the same can go for solution 2.

[archaeo]

We discussed this topic before at some length when the change actually happened.

Of course, nobody brought up the idea that inedible chunks were "unclear," which I don't quite understand. If you're a new player, sure, you might be surprised when you run into the first monster that you can't eat. But it's not really unclear, it says, right there, that it's inedible when you butcher it. You criticize having to "have a mental catalog," but given that being a good player requires learning a lot of things about monsters, this doesn't really seem to be a compelling reason to change things.

Preventing players from butchering inedible corpses doesn't really change anything; the player still presses c, they just get a different message and it doesn't take a turn. I guess you could add a line to the monster's description? I bet a patch that did that would be accepted. Edit: as pointed out below, they're already distinguished by text color, something I think players will pick up through context.

There are other reasons inedible chunks are kind of silly, but they're mostly the same reasons that all chunks are silly. Making them all edible would be fine, if we have to have chunks, but the devs in those old threads wanted to experiment with chunk availability; since I haven't seen any other threads about casters starving to death in Snake or Spider, I figure it hasn't actually been a big deal.

[thromnambular]

Inedible corpses are grayed out though.

[Aule]

I just now noticed that too, and hoped to come here to withdraw this. My post is pointless. I suck at life, as bad as I suck at crawl.

[lessens]

They're not pointless because ghouls eat them.

[archaeo]

Don't be too hard on yourself, Aule, there are less than a dozen people who can actually remember everything going on in Crawl at one time, and most of them have also made mistakes about the game anyway. I mean, elliptic knows more than all of us put together about this game, but as Arrhy will tell you, he once said silence wasn't as good as dispel undead in Tomb.

[Sandman25]

silence wasn't as good as dispel undead in Tomb.

But it is true when you are Mu.

[Aethrus]

Also pointing out that Swamp Dragons, Golden Dragons have inedible chunks, but there is definitely purpose in butchering them.

[bcadren]

you may still want to butcher an inedible corpse though...Thing dies in doorway. Butcher thing to move it out of the door so you can close it. [being unable to apport corpses is so annoying; especially in volcanoes and/or while worshiping a god that doesn't let you animate the skeleton to get rid of it.] (Being able to close doors to rest is really important IMO.)

[Rast]

1. Closing a door with items/corpses in the doorway should be allowed, and the stuff moved to the square directly opposite the player, on the other side of the the door.
2. Monsters should drop hides/skins/whatever when they die, no butchering needed.
3. Remove food and hunger.