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When is dung going to have a use?

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 2:44 am
by Ahoyhoy
I see these massive piles of dung just building up and building up. Yet nothing can be done about it. And something has to be created to get rid of these massive hide, meat, and bone piles if someone wishes to get rid of them too.

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 3:12 am
by Sho
Dung already has a use.

Fresh dung can be converted to dried dung in a small fire pit or primitive oven, which can then use the dried dung as fuel.

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 3:25 am
by Agar
I too, am now amoung those that have seen dried dung. I ~still~ have not seen or heard of anyone cooking with it, but that is the idea.

Besides, I still use it to do weight tests on crooks.

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 4:08 am
by Nixit
I've seen people using it.

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:11 am
by EchoMan
One of my chars use dung all the time. I even have had it in my signature since I first saw it.

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:28 am
by Dee
I cooked with dried dung once... Was not very delecious, I warn you :P

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:35 am
by EchoMan
Dee wrote:I cooked with dried dung once... Was not very delecious, I warn you :P

On the contrary! Once the dung is dried properly, it is quite odorless and works gallantly as a low heat fuel source for various cooking projects. :D

Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:35 am
by Blackdeath
I'm sure it added an extra kick of flavor :D

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:13 am
by BladeofGrass
If you had dung with nuts in it, would it add a nutty flavor?

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 7:47 am
by A Neo Irony
Just a tad. I recommend avoiding cooking the dung with corn in it though; popping corn inside dung gets very messy.

Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 8:58 am
by MrPenguin589
A Neo Irony wrote:Just a tad. I recommend avoiding cooking the dung with corn in it though; popping corn inside dung gets very messy.


I imagine it would.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 7:03 am
by wichita
Dung can be dried on firepits and primitive ovens. Cooking projects using dried dung as fuel are available on the firepit, spit, and primitive ovens.

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2006 3:55 pm
by Lumin
wichita wrote:Dung can be dried on firepits and primitive ovens. Cooking projects using dried dung as fuel are available on the firepit, spit, and primitive ovens.


Great. But I thought dung was supposed to be easy to use. :roll:

Sorry if I'm being snarky. I absolutely love the idea of a cheap fuel source, but as often seems to happen with this game I find the implementation somewhat lacking.

Firepits aren't a realistic option. If you can make iron, you already have access to wood and coal, so dung isn't really all that necessary. Primitive ovens are pretty much a non-issue as well, as in most cases it's actually easier to get a trowel and make a regular one than to get your hands on a big enough cache of water.

That's right, in many places mud is now rarer than iron. Never thought I'd see the day. (Of course that regular oven will then require a regular source of wood or coal, so you might not actually be able to use it that often anyway, but them's the breaks...)

So we're left with spits. And despite all my complaining, that's fair, I guess. You'll never be able to keep even a tiny village fed from a spit, but if you're alone on a mountain or forest or something you can cook a meal for yourself and keep from starving. Of course dung will never see widespread usage that way, but maybe that wasn't the intention to begin with.

Still, I got pretty excited about the whole alternative fuel source thing when I first heard about it, and it's a little disappointing to realize that it's not really going to any effect on the game or make cooking much easier after all. I just hope the planned changes to raw food consumption aren't relying on dung to make them feasible, or a lot of towns are going to get screwed. I feel sorry for the Pok area already...

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 12:59 am
by Talapus
Making mud from water has always been a terrible way of getting it. But what you failed to mention (or didn't realize) is that mud is a harvestable resource in many places (I know at least 4 large towns that have mud, and I am sure there are lots more). And just because you have a shovel (to make a firepit) doesn't mean that you have extra wood or coal to spend on cooking food. And in many places (especially on the older islands) there are plenty of firepits dug outside that newspawns use even though they don't have access to iron or steel.

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 1:30 am
by Lumin
Well, all right, I hadn't realized mud could actually be gathered, but after searching the maps of three major continents I see that that it's available in two locations on the first, three on the second, and zero on the last. So not by any stretch of the imagination is it what I'd call a widespread resource, and the ability to make it again would be extremely welcome. (Or how about making clay useful for something and letting us make ovens out of that, too?)