Food and Drink Mechanic

The Mechanic
The hunger and thirst mechanic is used to create a more realistic experience in the secondary story line by requiring the player to find or buy food and drink.

Food
Players need to eat on non-mission days so they don’t die from starvation. Having a full stomach allows the player to regenerate health and heal wounds faster.

Players will have a full stomach when their hunger return value is 1.0. Over the course of a day, the player’s hunger return value will drain to 0.1, assuming the day wasn't interrupted with a mission. Should the player’s hunger return value reach 0.00, then they will begin to take starving damage.

In addition to an initial return value granted from consuming food, the player will also be affected by a saturation modifier that will act as a dampening multiplier in regards to the decay rate of the hunger return value. Each item consumed will get added to a “food pool” where items with lesser saturation values get their return hunger value subtracted from the collective pool first.

For example, two items with a return value of 0.25 are added to the food pool. One item, say a large handful of berries with a saturation value of 0.08 will get subtracted over a certain time span before, say, a slab of meat with a saturation value of 0.75 will. Although both items returned the same hunger value of 0.25, players will notice that half of their food pool is lost quickly as the other half drains much slower. This is meant to mimic actual hunger. Although you can eat something light like popcorn until you’re completely full, you’ll be hungry sooner than if you were to eat a steak dinner until you were completely full.

See the Food and Drink Tables page for information on return and saturation values.

Drink
Players need to drink on non-mission days so they don’t die from dehydration.

Unlike the hunger mechanic, your drink pool will decay at a set rate based on the environment. A desert environment will make the player thirstier quicker as something like the cold Northeastern mountains will keep the player hydrated for longer.

If a player becomes dehydrated, they will start taking thirst damage.

See the Food and Drink Tables page for information on return, intoxication, and environmental decay values.