Nutrition

Introduction

I can hear the angry replies already. Before I actually go into this topic, I’d like to stress that this is only a concept of how nutrition could play a value in Unturned II. Please give constructive criticism on why you dislike said topic, and keep on open mind when reading. Thank you.

That being said, I’ve attempted to simplify the six categories of nutrients and all of the various other aspects into three major categories (this was not easy at all, I spent over an hour pouring over nutritional data and the effects various deficiencies have on the human body), and I’ve arrived at what I believe to be a favorable conclusion.


Calories

The most important element of the consumeable, caloric value is how much energy is in the item (note that for the purposes of this post, all energy values are going to be in kilocalories because differentiating between large and gram calories is absolutely retarded and nobody should ever have to do that).

Another thing I’d like to suggest is different rates of absorbtion, as in the calories in food actually take varying amounts of time for the player to process before actually taking effect. Yeah, yeah, I already hear some people shouting “realism for the sake of realism” in my ear, but personally I feel that this is necessary to make sure some foods are prioritized over others.


Carbohydrates

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A marathon runner’s wet dream…

The most common and simplest of caloric sources, carbs are a form of saccharides, better known as sugars. Most, if not all of these can be converted easily into useable energy, and should be the primary source of food for players. Carbohydrate-rich foods usually contain roughly about 4 kilocalories per gram. A shortage of carbohydrates negatively affects stamina regeneration.


Ethanol

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It would seem that my Beaufort wine has spoiled. What a pity.

A surprising mention, alcohol actually contains the second largest amount of calories, second to fats, at nearly 7 kilocalories per gram. The negatives effects of drinking alcohol, however, may prove to discourage this as a primary source of energy.


Fats

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“Brains are quite rich in cholesterol.”

The most energy dense of the three main macronutrients, fats take the longest to absorb, but provide the most amount of energy, at about 9 kilocalories per gram. Fat is also essential towards insulation and temperature regulation, making it essential in cold climates. A shortage of fats results in a hit towards max stamina.


Protein

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As a fuel source, protein provides the same amount of energy as carbohydrates, at roughly 4 calories a gram. However, their main function is not an energy source, but rather as the building blocks of body tissue. A shortage of proteins will decrease health regeneration.


Metabolism

One possible option in the character creation menu could be the addition of a metabolism slider. While a faster metabolism slightly accelerates the rate at which wounds heal and increases cardiovascular efficiency, it also increases the rate at which the body burns calories. A slower metabolism, on the other hand, performs better in cold climates and is much better at gaining muscle mass (which could possibly affect how fast physical skills are leveled).


Polling

  • I would like to see everything in this post implemented
  • I would like to see carbohydrates
  • I would like to see fats
  • I would like to see proteins
  • I would like to see metabolism implemented
  • Everything here is too realistic, and I want none of it
  • Null Option

0 voters


  • I feel like the penalties on malnutrition are fair and balanced
  • I feel like different things should be affected instead of stamina and health regen
  • I don’t like these penalties at all
  • Null Option

0 voters


  • I’m supportive of the ideas outlined in this post
  • I like the general concept, but I feel like one or more things can be tweaked
  • I don’t like this post at all, this much realism is bad for the game
  • Null Option

0 voters


Conclusion and Closing Remarks

This one took a little over a week to make, I’d admit, as I spent time on and off deciding whether or not I actually wanted to make it at all. But, well, you know what decision I made, since we’re still here after all.

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As always, thank you very much for reading this post through and leaving a vote on the polls. I’m sure this type of post really helps Nelson get some idea of what the community wants and exactly how detailed certain mechanics should be. Until next time, then.

12 Likes

Everything in this post is well written for the most part, and while I do think this could be cool if implemented. I don’t think this should be support officially in Unturned II. A fun (not good) survival game allows for a player to survive without a ton of knowledge on the deeper mechanics of the game. A mechanic like this could alienate a lot of players who would other wise really enjoy this game due to the initial difficulty a mechanic like this could provide. It would be really cool as a mod, maybe even an “Official Mod” (A mod that is ether featured or upkept by Nelson, but is not apart of the core game).

6 Likes

I think that the most in depth that nutrition should get is from hunger burned by temperature.

In a cold temperature you would spend more calories warming up.

In a hot temperature, you would spend more thirst sweating/cooling down.

1 Like

I feel compelled to promote my take on this general subject matter, though I lean less on the conceptual side and more on the practical-mechanical aspects.

So, as to my opinions on this post:

  • I am absolutely in support of a metabolism slider, but it shouldn’t be something you can change at any given time. If UII has a character creation process of some sort resembling games such as NEO Scavenger, Project Zomboid, etc. then I can see how it can be used to set a player’s metabolism in that respective life. Maybe a slider is too much though, and you could just have normal metabolism and the high/low extremes.

  • Caloric values being measured in kilocalories (or alternatively even in kJ) would be nice for immersion and gameplay design - putting the focus on staying alive by managing energy reserves as opposed to filling a bar to 100%.

  • I’m a bit iffy on the absorption mechanic, but perhaps it could be an optional feature much like durability in U3. While it does seem like a very good feature to have for balancing different food types, I can easily see how this’d be very daunting to learn for new players. Then again, Minecraft has saturation, and many shooter games have medical items that take time to fully swing into effect. Perhaps the biggest issue is how you’ll communicate information like this to the player.

Generally speaking, I do somewhat like your approach to metabolism but there’s a lot of room for tweaks to make sure it doesn’t get too confusing or go too overboard. Some of this vaguely feels like the infamous stereotype of complexity for the sake of complexity.

7 Likes

In that case, wouldn’t it be a better idea to support it, and leave it to individual servers to decide whether or not to implement it?

More than a couple of the posts I have have to do with food and other consumables, so I made this post first. The problem if this were to be a mod is that an two completely different sets of items have to be made, one supporting this system and one without. With this affecting incredibly minute details, there’s a lot more to go wrong and maintain.

With Unturned II’s modding system you could just overwrite existing items to fit this Nutrition system.

For your secret cipher @HoldBaker and I managed to easily solve this cipher, faster then your last one.

“As an added bonus, from now on I’ll include a little cipher puzzle in many of my posts. As you can probably see, this time I’ve also taken the liberty of making it an image to up the ante a bit. This time you won’t actually get much except the bragging rights, but do feel free to send me a private message so I can include you on X list next time of the people who managed to solve it. Until then.”

Put us on the list, or I’m gonna put you on a different kind of list. :sunglasses:

5 Likes

Well, I don’t have a lot of experience with modding, but I’ve overwritten files before in Stalker, and that opens up a whole new can of worms in multiplayer. By overwriting files, you’ve effectively replaced that file with a new one, which means that you can’t play in vanilla.

With item and overhaul mods, it’s simple to completely replace all these items, but what about in servers?

1 Like

Well, now you’ve ruined the fun for everyone else.

4 Likes

Does this mean we’re on the list?

5 Likes

Yes it does, but that’s besides the point.

4 Likes

Epic style :sunglasses::sunglasses::sunglasses::sunglasses:

5 Likes

Mods wouldn’t replace the files completely, just override them when the game says they can. Servers would just tell the game to use vanilla files/files from certain mods.

1 Like

Well, I guess that goes to show how little I know about modding.

I do actually lean more towards the conceptual in my posts.

Though at this rate, there’s going to be so many choices for a new player that they may not know what to choose from, and there’s going to be guides published describing which addons to choose instead of guides explaining ingame mechanics.

As for communicating information, I’m coming up with an item card system, with the detailed description below a series of bullet points with the most important information listed.

1 Like

How about you just get benefits for eating foods of a many categories.
Like protein, fats, carbs, vitamins and vegetables. And some small debuffs for not eating healthy.
Energy could also be a thing.

perhaps if you get too fat then you can have a mobilty scooter to drive around on and you can mount a machine gun onto it

also you can get diabetes if you get real fat and you need insulin otherwise you die

This is very interesting. Maybe it could be implemented sometime in the future, or it could be made a mod with the fact that Unturned II modding could more advanced than the modding of the current Unturned.

I like the idea of having it in the game

All information could be placed in the item description, or by clicking on a details button, which would show the type of macronutrients most present in the food; also the absorption time of the body.

2 Likes

I’m working on that for a meal system. Players get small buffs for eating complete cooked meals instead of the individual components.