Food Clock Economics

[o_O]

I think the whole food clock mechanic would be improved if:

(1) Food is were balanced in such a way that an average character would need or want to buy some permafood from stores. In other words, much less permafood found on the floor.
(2) A guaranteed food store in the early dungeon (possibly temple?). This is to prevent starvation in the early game and ensure that any reasonable character would have enough food to complete the game, no matter what the RNG throws at them. Another in the late game might be good, bonus points if this store has "the hive" in its name.

Food would be more interesting because large extra food costs like high level spells or berzerk would have to be payed out of gold instead of an unlimited supply of free permafood. The chance of starving to death due to the RNG deciding not to give you any food or corpses would be eliminated or substantially reduced. Gold has its own issues, but that's another topic. In any case I think there needs to be more stuff that more character builds want to buy and this might be a good start.

Disclaimer: Yes, this might break some things and balance work will be needed.

[snow]

The amount of food used by different backgrounds varies so drastically that balancing it is simply not going to happen. It's a broken system that can't be fixed.

When it comes down to it a spbe isn't going to use the same amount of food as a dewz. You're either going to starve one or flood the other with food. Then there are players who dive floors, and players who clear floors... both are valid play styles and if you make a tighter food clock you're going to force players into a specific play style (while making some combinations simply impossible in the process).

Way to take all the fun out of the game guys.

Also... replacing food spawns with gold spawns and making a food shop is just beating around the bush. It's the same broken system and fixes nothing.

[Sealer]

In my recent win with MfHu I was about to die to starvation at zot:5, I've bought every piece of permafood in the game without going into extended endgame/slime. I've got fast metabolism mutation and berserkertitis (which made me consume a lot of permafood in the mid game). I don't think this would balance anything.

[Strongpoint]

In fact I hate crawl's food clock... because it's not a clock. I like it as resource for casting\invo\evo, but food for waiting never, just never changes any strategy, even for ogres\centaurs\trolls. That hungry status is just annoying

In fact I'd like to see food for waiting removed and replaced with food for HP\MP regenerated, modified by metabolism

[varsovie]

(2) A guaranteed food store in the early dungeon (possibly temple?). This is to prevent starvation in the early game and ensure that any reasonable character would have enough food to complete the game, no matter what the RNG throws at them. Another in the late game might be good, bonus points if this store has "the hive" in its name.

Now in 1.0 there it is a guaranteed vault with a bread ration before D3.

@stronghold

I like the idea because it makes the food matter much more for fighters (they loose HP), but it makes the food clock less a clock and more a critical situation modifier. (intense fight will drain lot more and it become obvious to autoexplore every bit of the dungeon)

[varsovie]

Why more autoexplore?
Lot of complains about the food clock comes from this tediousness, being remembered to eat each 500 turn if you rely on chunk (plus the butchering) without actually really needing to rely on corps for most char.
The greatness of autoexplore it's that it reduce the tediousness of Crawl, it's not a reason to add more boring things.
Like the macros, because you can make three action with a single key stroke doesn't mean all action can (or should) take three key strokes.