Hunting (no ontology)
From Mazeworld
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.
Essentially speaking, it is calculated this way:
- Meat worth - Damage sustained * Skill = Actual amount of meat extracted.
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.
- A hunter uses a 7.62x51mm NATO to attack the wolf, and fires once. We will skip the dice rolls and assume that the hunter hits the wolf once in the torso.
- Pain damage dealt is 100% (which guarantees the wolf is instantly killed). Limb damage dealt is 1d6+4; here the roll result 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. It exists in two states: raw, and cooked.
- Raw game meat: 126+1d126 ntri, and a 25% chance to cause nausea when eaten, which will last 3 turns.
- Cooked game meat: 0,9*(126+1d126) 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; harvesting percentage depends on the Hunting skill level.
Each creature requires one turn to be butchered. Successfully butchering a creature for meat grants the Contestant 1 Skill Point in Hunting skill.
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.
- 1 piece of raw game meat: 10 P$
- 1 piece of cooked game meat: 22 P$
Example event lines:
- [Food] Meat - Raw game meat, emu - 126+1d126 ntri - 25% Nausea (3 turns) - Weight: 1
- [Food] Meat - Cooked game meat, emu - 0,9*(126+1d126) ntri - Weight: 1
Meat and death types
- Venom-type poison: If a creature dies from venom poisoning, all of the meat will be unsalvageable, as venom depleted Meat worth.
- Cyanide-type poison: If a creature dies from cyanide poisoning, all of the meat becomes cyanide-laced, even cooked.
- 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 any rate when off combat, and at a rate of 1 piece per turn during combat. The source of fire doesn't matter; it can be a fire started with anything, even incendiary weapons if needed; so long as it is a sufficient source of fire.
Another method of cooking raw meat is by using dedicated equipment.
- 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, the stoves can be used for free to cook meat. These stoves are fixed, but function for an unlimited amount of meat.
