Use of dung.

[Russell of Los Angeles]

Look, I guess it's just simply for diversity in the game.

Yeah, that's the only thing I can think of, too. Nevermind that "simply for diversity" is an oxymoron. But diversity for diversity's sake is just unnecessary complication, I think. Look, it's inspired me to write my own Cantr Comic! (There are no pictures because it is set in the Cantr OOC forums!)

Russell's Cantr Comic

A look into the forums in the (hopefully) not-too-distant-future.

Newbie: Hello, this is a great game so far! Is there anything I should know about the forums?

Oldbie#1: Well, we use "sabre" as a verb.

Newbie: Okay. Oh, I was also wondering how characters cook without using any wood or matches. How do they start the fire? What do they burn?

Oldbie#1: Well, we just assume that they gather the necessary materials as part of the cooking process. In regions where wood is not readily available, it's imagined that the characters use dried grass, leaves, or in the more desolate areas, even dried dung.

Newbie: Dried dung?

Oldbie#1: Yes, dried dung. It happened in history. You can look it up.

Oldbie#2: Hey, remember that time when the programming department was trying to implement cooking with dried dung, but they had only partially figured it out, and so for a while there were piles of fresh dung everywhere?! Man, that was really hilarious for a little while!

Oldbie#1: I remember. Now let's not speak of it any more.

[Nixit]

Hehe, not bad not bad.

But as you said, Cantr is no where near simulating real agriculture... and this is one step towards it. A small step, granted, but a step nonetheless.

[Wolf]

Cantr year 1542... that would be between day 30840 and 30860, if I'm not mistaken.
I think, if I have my numbers right, that we're currently in the first or second quarter of year 68...
So my guess is, by the year 1542 we'll have different classes; the upper- and middle-class cooking with wood, the lower-class cooking with dried grass and stuff.
And the lowest of the lowest, they don't cook... they wait outside until someone throws out the left-overs... hey, that's how it still went in some places around earth year 1542

Chances are, by then my second-oldest char will still be having to fight those outside for the best leftovers heheh... don't know why, but she seems to have fallen into a role of a bottom-feeder in society, moving around from place to place to get whatever grub she can.

[Russell of Los Angeles]

Cantr year 1542... that would be between day 30840 and 30860, if I'm not mistaken.
I think, if I have my numbers right, that we're currently in the first or second quarter of year 68...
So my guess is, by the year 1542 we'll have different classes; the upper- and middle-class cooking with wood, the lower-class cooking with dried grass and stuff.
And the lowest of the lowest, they don't cook... they wait outside until someone throws out the left-overs... hey, that's how it still went in some places around earth year 1542

Hah. Right. I knew there was something not quite right about that. Lemme' edit...

[wichita]

Look at the Firepits and Primitive Ovens (if anyone has built a prim oven yet).

More to come...

Oh, and machinery is a necessity, I don't expect special programming to help RD work around the mcahine to convert resources mechanic. *shrugs* We are trying to keep simple machines sufficiently cheap and affordable until an area can develop better. Prim ovens require mud an no tools to build. It can't really be easier than that.

Not to ruin any novel game strategy from leaking out, but hopefully, a generous and ambitions mapmaker in a new world can gather enough mud along his travels to build a few prim ovens in deserted locations for any future newspawns that might need to do some cheap cooking.

[Wolf]

Actually, one of my chars is part of a group that wants to do all kinds of nice things for several places, and my char isn't aware of it (yet), but as a player, I happen to know from chars that moved through that area in the past, that some of the future resource runs that this group is planning to make, unless they get what they need through trade from visitors to the place they're making home now, would bring them to the edge of a desert.
So there's a good chance they bump into someone from that desert, who ends up telling them about desert life... and my char is still carrying around mud that he intended to build mud huts with, but which was no longer needed.
On the other hand, seeing how this group is all about charity, it is possible that my char ends up donating that particular load of mud to another cause, if one comes up before they get near a desert.
Still, chances are that if someone tells the leader of the group my char's in about how they live in the desert, that he has us going on mud-runs again.

And Russel:
Heh... 's okay, whether it would be years or days, chances are there'd still be oldbies around to remember.

[Lumin]

I noticed we can dry it now using a fire pit. That's a start, but are there plans for other methods too?

[Wolf]

Primitive oven works too.

[wichita]

Announcement: Dung fueled cooking projects have been added to firepits, primitive ovens, and spits. Enjoy.

[Blackdeath]

hmm, I'm sure it'll add extra flavor to the meat