Agriculture, Food, and Water¶

Design Goals¶

If hunger and thirst matter, the world needs a real food system behind them. Scavenging and monster drops can supplement food, but they cannot support towns, caravans, armies, or a real economy.

Player Survival States¶

Track at least:

hunger
thirst
fatigue
temperature exposure
injury burden

These should affect mission eligibility, travel speed, combat efficiency, and recovery.

State Bands¶

Use readable bands instead of hidden penalties:

fed or hydrated
stable
low
strained
critical

The player should immediately understand whether they are expedition-ready.

Food Categories¶

staple grains and bread
meat and fish
preserved rations
cooked meals
medicinal food and tonics
luxury or morale food

Each category can influence different outcomes such as duration support, morale, healing, or climate resilience.

Water System¶

Water should be a separate supply class from food. Desert routes, disease zones, and winter travel should stress water access differently.

Water sources include:

wells
rivers or safe springs
caravan stores
water merchants
rain capture or snow melt in advanced systems

Farming System¶

Farming should be an async profession, not a click-heavy minigame.

Recommended production types:

crop fields
orchards
ranches
fisheries
herb gardens
mushroom caves

Player Farming¶

Players should be able to lease plots or operate specialized production sites. They choose crop, seed quality, tools, labor, and storage strategy, then wait for timed growth cycles.

NPC Agriculture¶

Towns should have baseline NPC producers so the world does not collapse when player numbers are low. Player farming should improve supply, variety, and quality rather than being the only source of food.

Food Chain¶

Raw output should usually require processing before it becomes expedition-grade supply.

Examples:

grain to flour to bread or ration packs
fish to dried fish or stew stock
livestock to meat, hides, fat, and preserved cuts
herbs to medicine, spice, or tea

Spoilage and Storage¶

Food should have storage classes:

fresh
preserved
durable travel ration

This creates demand for smokehouses, salt, ice storage, barrels, mills, and granaries.

Town Consumption¶

Each town should consume food and water based on:

population tier
climate
current projects
militia activity
refugee pressure
festivals or disasters

If food falls short, quests, prices, and town condition should react.

Technical Model¶

Core Data¶

Store:

town_stockpile
farm_plot
production_job
crop_template
food_item
water_source
spoilage_state

Production Jobs¶

Every farm, fishery, orchard, and ranch operation should be represented as a timed production job with inputs, modifiers, and expected outputs.

Town Demand Engine¶

A daily or half-daily town tick should:

subtract food and water consumption
apply spoilage
add completed local production
add player deliveries
evaluate shortage or surplus bands

Quest Hooks¶

Shortages should generate quests such as:

grain delivery
wolf cull near fields
escort flour convoy
repair irrigation
hunt diseased livestock threat

Public Recovery Floor¶

Every town should maintain emergency public rations and water at poor efficiency. This prevents hunger from turning into a hard progression lock.

town simulation and condition
cooking, alchemy, and farming professions
caravan trade and storage
disease, weather, and seasons