[Balance] The transition between Hunger --> Starvation is too quick
While it takes a significant amount of time to go from [no status] to Hungry, it takes comparatively little time to transition to Very Hungry and then reach outright Starving. In fact, the effect can be so pronounced that if you get the 'Hungry' notice in the middle of a medium-sized combat (with say 15-20 enemies) you can feasibly be Starving before you can safely exit the combat.
My problem with this is counter-intuitive. While Starving (rightfully) hammers your attributes, in my view it kills you off far too quickly. If we look to real life, we could see that starving individuals can last for weeks or months in their weakened condition. Meanwhile in ADOM they would be lucky to last a few days.
As things stand you need to go there the very instant you run out of food at the latest (I have a personal rule where I head back to resupply if I go down to my last 2 rations). It is quite literally a race to get food in a couple of days before you die of malnutrition.
I think this is a shame because I believe being able to (or being forced to) play in a weakened state can be one of the more harrowing and memorable experiences when playing ADOM. Trying to get back to somewhere to stock up on food can be fun, especially if you are suddenly vulnerable in combat. Additionally, pressing on despite being at a significant disadvantage is a cool strategy you don't really have the option to try at the minute because Starvation is so rapid and lethal. But humanoids aren't built that way. The way we store fat specifically guards against exactly that kind of food-shortage scenario.
I propose the following:
> Contract the distance between [no status] and 'Hungry'. This means that the player becomes aware earlier on that they need to go and acquire food. It would also take some of the panic out of seeing the 'Hungry' warning and normalize it somewhat.
> Drastically reduce energy consumption for all actions when 'Starving'. This represents the body conserving energy by burning fat more slowly.
> Possibly reduce the universal quantity of food drops to compensate. This will have the knock-on effect of making the 'Survival' and 'Food Preparation' traits more useful/crucial relative to other skills.
> Nerf the number of Fried Bats etc. purchasable at the Arena, or at least raise the number of stones fast foods weighs. At the moment as soon as I hit the Arena my food worries are as good as over.