Hi all,
It's finally time to talk about the changes to food. Unlike many of the other mechanics, most of the changes here will require the "Feeding the Future" DLC.
Why change Food?
We always felt that the food was too simplistic - there are many crops, animals, and fungi in the game, but in the end, it all becomes generic green cubes that the colonists eat. They don't reflect variety or the food's effects on the colonists' well-being. We want to expand food so that it feels more authentic without making it feel like a chore.
Delicacies
Colonists still eat green cubes to survive - that hasn't changed, but we also introduced 8 new resources called Delicacies. They are distributed in Food Service buildings and will increase colonist stats when consumed with food. Not all Food Service buildings can consume all Delicacies, and you may need to build specific buildings for some of them (e.g., a Cafe that serves Coffee).
If a colonist eats a meal with no delicacies, they will take a hit to their Morale.
Delicacy | Comfort | Morale | Health | Sanity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Herbs | – | – | +5 | – | Herb crops, or a farm byproduct |
Spices | – | +5 | – | – | Spice crops, a Hydroponic Farm byproduct, or imported from Earth |
Sugars | +5 | – | – | – | Sugar crops, bees in an Insect Farm, or imported from Earth |
Coffee | – | +5 | – | +5 | A Hydroponic and Automated Farm upgrades crop |
Butter | +5 | – | +5 | – | The Food Processing Plant, or from Dairy Cows in Ranches |
Bread | +5 | +5 | – | – | The Bakery (Food + Butter) |
Cheese | +5 | – | +5 | – | The Food Processing Plant, Dairy Cows, and Goats in Ranches |
Meat | – | +5 | +5 | – | Ranches, an Insect Farm, or The Food Processing Plant |
This system gives you the flexibility to grow what you want, when, based on the needs of your Domes.
Food Production Changes
With the addition of Delicacies, we needed to change how food production works in the following ways:
New and changed crops - some crops will now produce multiple resources (e.g., Wheat Grass produces both Food and Herbs), while others like Spices (new crop) will produce Spices but no Food.
New small version of the Farm.
Farms can be built underground and will have a different set of crops than above-ground farms (including some new crop options only available there).
Fungal farms have different fungi options and can only be built underground.
New Insect farms that allow alternative ways for colonists to get their daily dose of protein.
New Automated Farms that require no workers but can only produce Herbs, Spices, Sugars, Coffee, and Seeds.
These changes allow for additional options when playing the game (esp. in the underground) and offer new, different ways in which you can feed your colonists.
Food Processing
Not all Delicacies can be just grown - some require processing, so we added multiple new buildings that allow you to modify delicacies in different ways:
The Food Processing Plant will transform resources into advanced Delicacies (e.g., you can produce Butter from Seeds).
The Food Packaging Plant will produce Food from basic Delicacies. If you enact the Artificial Flavoring law, you will also be able to produce some delicacies directly from Food.
The Bakery produces Bread from Food and Butter.
We feel there should be many different strategies regarding delicacies and food processing, which allowed us to create these fun transmutations in order to give you more freedom.
A rotten truth
Each sol, a small percentage of all stored food and delicacies will spoil. This means you need to distribute your Food fast or risk losing it along the way.
New Food Traits
Foodie - the colonist will receive extra Comfort when eating Delicacies.
Coffee Enthusiast - the colonist will gain Comfort when their Dome has a working, stocked building that serves Coffee, but takes a Comfort hit when there is no Coffee in the Dome.
Celebrity Chef (rare) - add the "Foodie" trait to colonists in the same Dome.
New Commander Profiles
Horticulturalist - Hydroponic farms require no workers. Bonus techs: Utility Crops and Gene Adaptation.
Agronomist - Crops are produced 33% faster, and the terraforming requirements for Vegetation and Open Farm crops are decreased. Bonus tech: Soil adaptation.
Final Words
The new Food content allows for new and different playstyles and will allow you to have more options for your colony. The food-spoiling mechanic will make you really think about how to distribute your food effectively.
Keep your colonists safe and your colonies growing!
The Haemimont Team