Do NPCs eat? (and JADE ecology)

[Plausible]

Considering how NPCs are similar internally to the player, do they go hungry and eat (via killing, stealing, scavenging, begging, buying...)?

It might add a lot of urgency and 'real feel' to the JADE world if they did. It could be very cool to see a "who eats who (and how)" network emerges from all these individual hungers. There would have te be enough food around though to keep most NPCs fed, so the player doesn't find all of them starved :\

Either way I would believe that jackal more if it attacked me for food rather than just "because it's evil"...


PS: Considering two feature requests on this board, NPCs who eat would blend nicely with the idea of setting traps, and it could help "keep the dungeon clean" of corpses.

[Baranor]

I can see that being really troublesome. NPC's would snatch up and eat all of the food leaving nothing for the adventurer. The only way that the adventurer would be able to find food is killing people. I suppose stores would have it, but I think it would be tough.

[Epythic]

NPC's are players too, right (see the old JADE website)? That means they have to eat too...

[theotherhiveking]

NPC's are players too, right (see the old JADE website)? That means they have to eat too...

The even are going to able to do quests... This is getting nicer and nicer..

The cooler thing in the world would be to have 'aditional adventurers' roaming in the world.. imagine you are just looting some cave and you find a friendly adventurer that sells you some looted stuff.

[spectre]

Or you make a living loitering at the caver entrance and killing the emerging "fellow adventurers"

[ZeroTheBird]

And then they will take over the world in a flash and force you into slavery.

[adom-admin]

Considering how NPCs are similar internally to the player, do they go hungry and eat (via killing, stealing, scavenging, begging, buying...)?

I have given this some thought... currently I beliebe it's best that NPCs never will be hungry. The gameplay would just become too complicated if NPCs had to hunt for food and this would need to be balanced for the available food.

OTOH I currently believe that maybe starvation will be handled in a more friendly manner in JADE compared to ADOM... maybe it simply will deteriorate physical attributes and speeds.

[theotherhiveking]

I have given this some thought... currently I beliebe it's best that NPCs never will be hungry. The gameplay would just become too complicated if NPCs had to hunt for food and this would need to be balanced for the available food.

OTOH I currently believe that maybe starvation will be handled in a more friendly manner in JADE compared to ADOM... maybe it simply will deteriorate physical attributes and speeds.

In what way? You mean that starvation will not kill you?


ps: Ony thing that i hated is how adom handless the food, eating 3 WHOLE corpses in the same dungeon is stupid, how much is long one of these corridors? 30KM? And a fight with a goblin? 3 hours? Having to eat 3 rations to become satiated is stupid.

[IronJelly]

Starving not resulting in immediate death is probably a good thing. I can see a character (particularly a troll, or a hungry human), going through a 'desparation' phase when they hit the critically hungry level, where they kind of are forcibly made berzerk, and do extra damage trying to get something edible. This could occur only if they have no other means of sustinance on them, and should not last long, and lead to, as you said, fatigue, and lower speed/attributes. Gearhead Arena does this well... if you are hungry, or if you eat food you don't particularly like, your mood worsens, and your skills go down.