EcoEEco
Mar 10

Hunting and Butchering balance

Hunting and butchering are in a weird place and need a balance pass to iron out some issues. Hunting: Main problem is, that hunting just isn't fun, since it's 80 % of the time just keeping W pressed down. Not much you can do about that, but you can make the rest of the job better. Problem: For anybody that's not a hunter, going after animals just isn't viable at all. Logging and mining skills make the job easier, for hunting, it makes the job possible at all. Not only does it reduce arrow consumption by ~80 %, it also means you can head out with just 30 arrows (3 kg) and come back with an inventory of carcasses, when the non-hunter would need to leave with 10 kg of arrows in his backpack to make sure they don't run out, making logistics much easier as well. Nobody wants to casually lug bow and arrows around to shoot the occasional animal they see, it's just too heavy, and it needs two slots. Solution: Double base damage of all bows. Make 50 % arrow recovery baseline for everybody. To compensate and make things easier for all, remove headshot damage bonus entirely, this isn't an FPS and the mechanics aren't fun. Change the hunter perks buff the arrow recovery to 75 % and to enable headshot damage with a 30 % bonus, and reduce damage scaling for hunters from 100 % bonus damage to 50 % bonus damage. Reduce weight of arrows from 0.1 kg to 0.02 kg or 0.01 kg to lessen the burden of carrying arrows around (I almost want to say "to make it viable"). With butchering, a solution seems simple. Similar to Tailoring, what butchers need is a modern work station. An electric butchering table with more efficient recipes. If a modern butchering table gives you 12 raw meat per bison, with prime cut requiring only 12 raw meat each, then with an MU5, you can get 4 prime cut for one bison instead of 2.5 prime cut per bison on the old table, significantly lessening the burden on hunters. Similarly, prepared meat could be adjusted from 4 raw meat to 3 raw meat. Tiny and small animals could get their meat production buffed to 2 and 3 respectively, making them actually worthwhile going after, and medium from 5 to 6. Anyway, that's just my thoughts on the matter, without taking the upcoming animal husbandry into account, since I don't know what's planned for it.
PendingPending
Mar 19, 2024

Killing animals is entirely possible without being a Hunter; just takes a lot of arrows, and it's fine that way. The trophies and other stuff a Hunter can craft aren't all that enticing; the main benefit is supplying carcasses, so it's entirely appropriate that it would be an absolute pain in the butt to do for anyone who isn't a hunter.

Mar 11, 2024

Hunting/Butchering/Tailoring all three needs serious overhaul. They are early game exclusives, but are yet required all untill the end game. People will always need meat, and people will need Nylon Fabric by the end. Yet the profession itself has zero evolution. I hope they rework all three when they add husbandry with the new tree looking like this; Husbandry - Raising stock, Hunting benefits, milk/egg production, wool Butchery - Meat, animal skin, animal biproducts, mounts Weaver - Making fabrics and simple clothes, mats/rugs, curtains Tailor - Advanced clothing with bonuses, modern furniture, Nylon Fabrics Advanced Husbandry - Overfeed stock to produce more meat in butchering, higher quality milk, eggs, cheese and machinery, hook up cows to milkers etc, domestication, pets, luxury fur/pelts for bonuses, breed exotic animals.