Hunting (no ontology)

From Mazeworld

Latest revision as of 20:27, 5 September 2019

This article details the specifics of hunting as an activity. For more details on how the skill works and how it affects hunting performance, see here.

Hunting is a non-combat skill and an activity of the game which allows the Contestant, with the right skills and tools, to harvest meat from killed creatures. It is a core gameplay element intended to provide Contestants with a way to sustain themselves without resorting to foraging or purchasing Food, and as a secondary source of income via the trade of raw game meat.

Starting to hunt

The Contestant's Hunting skill is originally at a special Level 0, "Unaware", which means they must first be given a lesson on the basics of hunting and butchering. Once the lessons have been taught and the skill has been "activated", it will be set to Level 1, "Unskilled", at which point a Contestant can start hunting. He or she will need the following:

• A suitable butchering tool
• A suitable target to correctly kill, then butcher
• Optional but recommended: Cooking equipment, to transform raw meat into cooked meat.

In order to actually put the skill to use, the Contestant needs to use a tool or weapon suitable for properly cutting meat; this is called a "butchering weapon". All melee weapons with the "Butchering" trait are suitable, as are all knife-bayonets.

Finding a suitable target

Once everything is ready to turn a dead body into delicious meat, it is time to actually set out and find creatures to turn into dead bodies in the first place. Not every encounter in the Mazes can be butchered or even eaten, and certain creatures produce meat with special traits. But before choosing targets to hunt, the notion of Meat worth must be understood.

Every butcherable creature has a Meat worth, expressed as a numerical value. Statistically, it is equivalent to limb health, but it is only applied to the BODY group of limbs; as such, a creature's meat worth is reduced when suffering hits in the BODY. An attack which would cause 6 limb damage on a creature's torso would reduce its meat worth by 6 points.

It is worth noting that if a creature's meat worth is allowed to fall to 0 or less, it is considered a brutal kill (the [B] tag) for statistical purposes.

Once the creature is dead, its body retains the meat worth, and only then the Contestant can begin the actual butchering process: this is where the meat worth and the butchering skill come into play.

A creature can only be butchered once, regardless of skill level. Once it has been butchered and the meat extracted, it usually becomes a relatively "bloodied pile of bones", depending on the creature.

Example

• The target chosen is a Wolf. When healthy and undamaged, has a meat worth of 24. Wolves have Light AC and no strength perk, making them weak to damage.
• For the sake of simplicity, we will assume that the hunter hits and kills the wolf with a single torso hit.
• Limb damage dealt is 7. The bullet tears 7 points of meat worth away.
• The hunter is left with a dead wolf, and a remaining meat worth of 17 points. We assume that our hunter is a novice butcher and only has the level 1 skill, which allows him to extract only 25% of the meat from a dead body. Thus, the wolf's meat worth is divided by 4 when butchered; 17/4=4.25, rounded to 4.
• The hunter manages to extract 4 pieces of raw game meat from his kill.

Obtaining raw meat

All pieces of game meat have the same nutritional value and the same weight (0.5 units). Meat exists in two states: raw, and cooked.

• Raw game meat: 1d100+100 ntri, but will cause Nausea when eaten.
• Cooked game meat: 2d50+100 ntri, but is 100% safe to eat.

When butchering a creature, raw game meat (which is designated as "raw <creature> meat") is obtained. A creature with a meat worth of 24 theoretically is worth 24 pieces of meat, assuming the meat is entirely undamaged and is 100% perfectly harvested.

Butchering process

Once a suitable creature has been killed, the Contestant must spend 1 turn to inspect the creature, which will inform him/her of the meat worth remaining.

After a creature has been inspected for meat worth, the Contestant must then butcher it. A Contestant can butcher up to 4 meat per turn (and each turn takes 5 minutes), but the total amount that can be harvested from a creature depends on the skill level; 20% multiplied by the skill level (Lv1 - Unskilled = 20%, up to Lv5 - Master = 100%). It's not necessary to completely butcher a creature; a Contestant can choose to harvest only what he/she needs.

For each piece of meat obtained while butchering a creature, the weapon used will lose 1 Condition point. As such, weapons used for butchering can wear out; keeping them in good shape is recommended.

Unless the Contestant plans to use this meat for personal consumption, in which case it should be cooked to stave off Hunger without the risk of nausea, game meat can be sold back to chefs or Delicatessen to make money. This can constitute an interesting secondary activity, and it becomes possible for the Contestant to hunt for money as well.

The Contestant will earn 1 Skill Point for butchering at least 1 meat from a creature.

When selling meat, the Contestant will earn the following:

• 1 piece of raw game meat: 10 P$
• 1 piece of cooked game meat: 25 P$
  • If the meat boosts alertness, the value of the meat is multiplied by 1.25.
  • If the meat boosts strength, the value of the meat is multiplied by 1.5 if +10%, or multiplied by 2 if +20%.
  • If the meat is not legal (crime against nature), meat value is multiplied by 0. Attempting to sell illegal meat may cause chefs and deli owners to call law enforcement in retaliation.

Event lines

• [Food] Hunting - Raw game meat, xxx - 1d100+100 ntri - Nausea - Weight: 0.5
• [Food] Hunting - Cooked game meat, xxx - 2d50+100 ntri - Weight: 0.5

Meat and death types

• Cyanide poisoning: If a creature dies from cyanide poisoning, that creature's Meat Worth becomes zero; all of the meat is ruined and impossible to harvest.
• Fire: If a creature being butchered has been killed due to an incendiary or Spec-Fire attack, then all of the harvested meat is considered cooked.

Cooking meat

Raw meat is good, but cooked is always better.

Raw game meat can be cooked by exposing it to a source of fire larger than a match or a lighter. Cooking game meat is done at a rate of 1 piece per turn.

To cook meat, a suitable amount of heat must be provided by the following:

• Using a portable gas stove. In order for such stoves to work, they need to have a butane gas canister attached, with fuel remaining inside to work. Using this, the Contestant can cook meat on the go without the need to start a fire. A full butane gas canister has enough fuel to cook 200 pieces.
  • Attaching a gas stove to a canister requires no blueprint and no toolkit. After use, the two items are separated.
• When in a Kitchen roomstyle in the UA, the stoves can be used for free to cook meat. These stoves are fixed and may have a random amount of gas left in them, but can be used for free.
• When in a restaurant, the stoves can be used and have an unlimited amount of gas, but the Contestant must pay 5 P$ per 1 unit of gas (1 turn) used.

See also

• List of creatures by meat worth
• Crafting