The Stellaris Diet

[Strager]

Over in another thread we were talking about trade and possible trade goods and the topic of food came up and it got me thinking...

There are three major types of animals on Earth - Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores.

When creating a race, the player should pick one of the three.

Carnivores and Herbivores could only eat food of the appropriate type. At the same time they should get better growth from the food they do consume.

Omnivores

Get less growth per food but can eat both types of food.

Each planet produces food that's either "Bio" foods or meats. A planet rich in animal life might not be a good pick for a race of plant-eating avians. At the same time that planet might be a perfect fit for a carnivore.

If a trade-good system was implemented, each world could export food named after the world the trade good originated in - "Earth Beef" for example. The more kinds of food available the better growth a planet gets. Omnivores get a bigger bonus because they can eat more things.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

I think it's not that hard to imagine your species farming whatever diet you've imagined for them.

(Alternatively, you can make an argument that intelligent+social species are generally omnivores and extrapolate that)

 

[ringhloth]

A planet rich in animal life might not be a good pick for a race of plant-eating avians

....

Why? Are the avians too afraid of the local life to chase them off and build farms?

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

....

Why? Are the avians too afraid of the local life to chase them off and build farms?

Yeah. We already know that colonists are not, usually, eating local life- they bring their own crops (and presumably animals) with them, and then (also presumably) adapt to domesticate anything compatible from the local biosphere.

 

[The_Meme_Man]

Gameplay wise, this would seem more annoying than immersive. You find some swanky systems near your homeworld, only to find out that they don't match your diet.

 

[Ezumiyr]

There are three major types of animals on Earth - Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores.

1. Stellaris also features "fungoids" and "plantoids", not only "animals"
2. Animals are not defined by what they eat, and carnivores/herbivores/omnivores is a gross simplification.
3. One could argue that all sentient species probably have a varied diet.
4. We already have that in the game. It's embraced by the "non adaptative"-"adaptative" spectrum. Non adaptivity can be explained in a relation to a climate, which includes the difficulty to grow a specific kind of food outside of its natural environment. An adaptive species, on the contrary, might eat more diverse things that are either more adaptative to climatic conditions themselves, or that he can find in other environment (maybe their digestive system can eat whatever they find and they are not limited by that need in particular).
5. In space opera universes, most intelligent species have a varied diet. They generally eat and drink different things (there's a trope about alcohol), there are also cultural practices (some species refuse to eat cooked meat for example...), and there also some example of fully hervibore or carnivore species, or even less familiar diets, but it's more the exception than the rule.
6. If you define a carnivore by an animal that eats meat, you'll have problem defining what you call meat. That's partly what it means when we talk about a groos simplification : what if your species usually eat something like that ? And even on earth, is a krill-eating species really comparable to an antelope-eating species? What if your "meat" is composed of a kind of bacteria that grows in thermal pools? Science fiction likes weird things too much to allow simplified ideas like the impractical carnivores/herbivoires distinction.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

Animals are not defined by what they eat, and carnivores/herbivores/omnivores is a gross simplification.

Lots of animals we consider "herbivores" will opportunistically eat meat, yeah. Cow and deers in particular will eat stuff like mice if they need protien AFAIK. Toucans have beaks specifically adapted for cracking open the tough skins of fruits, but they'll also eat chicks and eggs of other birds, especially if they're currently raising their own chicks (which require a higher-protien diet).

 

[CassCD]

You know you play too many Paradox games when your first thought is that someone is talking about an "imperial diet" as opposed to the more commonly used definition of the word "diet". Damn, I'd old.

 

[monsterfurby]

You know you play too many Paradox games when your first thought is that someone is talking about an "imperial diet" as opposed to the more commonly used definition of the word "diet". Damn, I'd old.

Same here...

 

[Stadhouder]

You know you play too many Paradox games when your first thought is that someone is talking about an "imperial diet" as opposed to the more commonly used definition of the word "diet". Damn, I'd old.

You mean eating HRE minors?

 

[Strager]

Lots of animals we consider "herbivores" will opportunistically eat meat, yeah. Cow and deers in particular will eat stuff like mice if they need protien AFAIK. Toucans have beaks specifically adapted for cracking open the tough skins of fruits, but they'll also eat chicks and eggs of other birds, especially if they're currently raising their own chicks (which require a higher-protien diet).

What if it affected the amount of growth provided based on the food type? So yes a carnivore COULD eat plants, but it would only provide like 10% growth.

 

[BlackUmbrellas]

What if it affected the amount of growth provided based on the food type? So yes a carnivore COULD eat plants, but it would only provide like 10% growth.

Gameplay wise, this would seem more annoying than immersive. You find some swanky systems near your homeworld, only to find out that they don't match your diet.

I think it's not that hard to imagine your species farming whatever diet you've imagined for them.

(Alternatively, you can make an argument that intelligent+social species are generally omnivores and extrapolate that)

Yeah. We already know that colonists are not, usually, eating local life- they bring their own crops (and presumably animals) with them, and then (also presumably) adapt to domesticate anything compatible from the local biosphere.

 

[Meneliki]

Over in another thread we were talking about trade and possible trade goods and the topic of food came up and it got me thinking...

There are three major types of animals on Earth - Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores.

When creating a race, the player should pick one of the three.

Carnivores and Herbivores could only eat food of the appropriate type. At the same time they should get better growth from the food they do consume.

Omnivores

Get less growth per food but can eat both types of food.

Each planet produces food that's either "Bio" foods or meats. A planet rich in animal life might not be a good pick for a race of plant-eating avians. At the same time that planet might be a perfect fit for a carnivore.

If a trade-good system was implemented, each world could export food named after the world the trade good originated in - "Earth Beef" for example. The more kinds of food available the better growth a planet gets. Omnivores get a bigger bonus because they can eat more things.

Why limit it to 3 diets? Why not add a few? It's a game about aliens! Whatabout lithovore?(eats rocks), or aliens that consume(and live on.. hint hint) the gases on a gas giant?

 

[tangled axile]

Gotta say, I half-expected this thread to be about cannibalism.

...and I'm kinda disappointed it's not. Specifics about what your species eats are FAR better left as something to RP, rather than being an explicit mechanic (unless it's eating pops, and that's coming).

Planets only producing one 'type' is nonsensical and annoying, too. Even if the only options WERE animals and plants, you can't have a solely animal-based ecosphere, and if the plants are edible to herbivores from planet X, then carnivores from planet X could certainly raise their prey species on 'em.

Now, having the occasional planet with luxury foodstuffs that could be used as trade goods and increase happiness a tiny bit, that's a decent idea, once they've implemented better trade systems. Feeding our pops the rare delicacy of crab eggs from the moons of distant Blorgulon 3, or what-have-you.

(Food diversity itself isn't, though, at all. Like, come on, we're running star empires here, and we can trivially move vast amounts of material across the galaxy. "Oh, gee, across the dozens of planets we rule, we've never planted anything but potatoes!" really isn't plausible or fun.)

 

[Strager]

Why limit it to 3 diets? Why not add a few? It's a game about aliens! Whatabout lithovore?(eats rocks), or aliens that consume(and live on.. hint hint) the gases on a gas giant?

Future DLCs? Once a basic structure is added P-Dox and modders could add things to their hearts delight. The one advantage to abstracting it to three types is that its easier for people to digest - throw TOO many numbers and some people start getting overwhelmed.

 

[Meneliki]

The one advantage to abstracting it to three types is that its easier for people to digest

Lol.. I see what ya did there

 

[zanaikin]

My mushroom kingdom does not need food! Only compost and moisture!

...Seriously, let's not delve into this. Anyone here who remembers their high school biology is going to have a headache.

 

[Xoatl]

Many great points were brought up. But personally, I'm content with the ability to eat POPs. OP if you are talking about realism, most species are omnivores, some have a tough time just stumbling upon some meat.

But speaking of which, I'm starting to think of a challenge to only get food from harvesting POPs after 50 years. A silo planet would be very valuable for that (assuming there's silos for food storage). Colonizing small planets would also be a good idea.

 

[Druesling]

I like part of the idea:
Categorization of your folks into carnivore, herbivore, omnivore and maybe photosynthesis would add flavor, even if the related mechanic is minimal.
So why not give herbivores hydroponics, carnivore s ranches and omnivores yeast farms, that hav different food symbols, but all do the same?
Photosynthesis could have solariums or something.

That would add flavor without making the game more tedious.

 

[Mcwynne]

I always assumed that the food icon was meant to be literal and that everyone in the galaxy exclusively ate apples. Except for robots who are allergic.
But thats to be expected when you were built from cur gems and lightning bolts.