Wild Foods and Herb Patches

[Etherdrifter 2,517]

Currently we have two skills that, apart from early game, are not much use.  The few uses these skills have are massive QoL blocks for other players (woad being the main one).
 

So why not extend forage/botanise a little so the gardening folks can have their cake while allowing these skills to remain useful?

 

Forage : Wild Food

Patches of wild food appear every season on wurm.  They are randomly placed and more likely to spawn away from deeds/well travelled roads.  These are "furnature" entities that can be right clicked to harvest the crop in question.  The spawn is staggered so as not to hit the server too hard.  They will despawn as the seasons change.

Harvesting the crop gives a similar rate as harvesting a farmed field (using the forage skill) and removes the entity.  The main lure here is to have "mushroom patches" that can be harvested in this way, thus giving a good way to harvest mushrooms.  Not all crops can appear as "wildfood".  Grants a reasonable forage skilltick.

Examining the crop explains this.
 

Different patches become visible at different skill levels (maybe a with a button to toggle them on/off); their render code being similar to source springs.  A skill modifier based on season is also used (winter is the hardest, autumn is the easiest).


Botanise : Herb Patches

These patches spawn and despawn in a similar way to wild foods, and also have visibility linked to skill level.
 

They function slightly differently; they drastically increase the odds of finding the herb type near the surrounding tiles and still function even if they are not seen.  If watered (0.1kg of water) they reset the botanise timers for the surrounding tiles (based on a skill roll); each may only be watered once per 24 hours.  Grants an average botanise skilltick.

Examining hints that there is an abundent amount of <X> in the area and that watering may rejuvinate depleted supplies of <X> in the area.

These two new mechanics would help flesh out the forage/botanise skills a little, add in a nice new "nature" feature for the game, and open the way to updates such as plantable woad (a woad herb patch now being superior to a woad plantpot in terms of productivity) and spices.

[John 254]

Botanizing and foraging on Epic, the way the game is meant to be played afaic, is still useful. It's a skill mean to be used in fairly untamed lands and I think it's wrong to make it into something you're able to grind on deed. Botanizing and foraging is a skill that is supposed to make you explore the wilderness. It's still useful for gaining things like acorns (botanizing) and cotton in a pinch.

-1

Edited March 18, 2018 by John

[Hoseph 49]

22 hours ago, John said:

 It's a skill mean to be used in fairly untamed lands and I think it's wrong to make it into something you're able to grind on deed. Botanizing and foraging is a skill that is supposed to make you explore the wilderness.

 

On 3/17/2018 at 11:22 AM, Etherdrifter said:

They are randomly placed and more likely to spawn away from deeds/well travelled roads.

 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Hoseph

[John 254]

On 19.3.2018 at 0:18 AM, Hoseph said:

 

 

I was mostly refering to the latter part of the suggestion regarding the herb patches.

[Etherdrifter 2,517]

20 hours ago, John said:

I was mostly refering to the latter part of the suggestion regarding the herb patches.

 

On 17/03/2018 at 6:22 PM, Etherdrifter said:

These patches spawn and despawn in a similar way to wild foods, and also have visibility linked to skill level.

 

 

[Reylaark 1,100]

On 3/17/2018 at 9:10 PM, John said:

Botanizing and foraging on Epic, the way the game is meant to be played afaic, is still useful. It's a skill mean to be used in fairly untamed lands and I think it's wrong to make it into something you're able to grind on deed. Botanizing and foraging is a skill that is supposed to make you explore the wilderness. It's still useful for gaining things like acorns (botanizing) and cotton in a pinch.

-1

 

I agree, but that's what makes me give it a +1.

 

It's already entirely possible to grind close to, and on, deed depending how large it is.

I think the suggestion would give added reason to head out into the unknown looking for these patches of herb and wild food.

It reminds me of ppl in real life going out to look for wild truffles.  Nice to take a walk in the woods, even nicer when you have a secondary objective such as finding cool stuff that can really only be found out there.

 

tl;dr +1