Ambrosia Software Web Board: Dividing food - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Well I think we’ve all established that the dividing food process in Cythera is rather buggy, and can lead to the appearance of mushroom steaks and edible strange devices. I stumbled across something else odd with it, which led me to question exactly how it works. I opened up a game which had the mushroom steak isolated in my inventory and only Hector as a follower (with nothing in his inventory). I picked up two more food items (a flatbread (not homemade) and a meatpie) and divided food. I found that no matter how many times I divided food, it would never give Hector the bread, instead alternating between mushroom steak and meatpie. Moreover, the process would always start by giving Hector the steak, and when I divide again, it would swap the steak and the meatpie, and repeat each time I divide food. I tried giving Hector the bread, and it always gives me the bread and the steak and Hector the meatpie. This leads me to believe that the process is not as random as it seems, and due to 453’s ongoing quest to figure out the mushroom steak, I thought it might be worth researching further. Maybe. Anyway I thought I’d post that, and we’re a few topics away from a second page, so yeah.

Just one minor off topic quick question: What is the point of hunger? I often just leave my characters hungry, and nothing seems to happen to them.

I think they won’t heal or (for Timon) regain mana, but I’m not sure.

I think maybe this post would be more fitting here than on the odd items topic.. Or maybe it should go on the which class are you topic? @_@

Seldane, on 06 February 2011 - 04:05 AM, said:

Thanks for posting those details, Seldane! I tried it myself and got the edible strange device as well ^_^ I tried it again with an Explorer and then with a Swordsman, but no edible strange device. Starting as a Rogue seems to be the key. It makes me wonder if the mushroom steak is the same way, except I'm pretty sure I.M.Cheater is an explorer, right?

Well I was not really focusing on the mushroom steak and the edible strange device with this topic, more on the mechanics of divide food in general, but…

BreadWorldMercy453, on 10 February 2011 - 10:22 AM, said:

That's really strange that only the Rogue seems to get the edible strange device. We should test the rest of the classes, too. It's obviously not random under the correct circumstances, but I wonder what those circumstances are. Maybe a character's skills affect this, or maybe the body/reflex/mind? Have you tried the Storyteller? They have the same starting stats as a Rogue.

Buzzzzy, on 10 February 2011 - 06:58 PM, said:

Regarding divide food itself, I'm also really curious how it works. We know that most foods are listed towards the top of the inventory, but certain foods, such as hand-baked bread and the edible strange device, are grouped later in the inventory. Where does the mushroom steak appear in the inventory? Maybe each item has a byte that determines its importance, and thus, where the engine will place it in the inventory. Perhaps divide food starts with the earliest listed food item and works downward? There's also the added complexity of stacking foods. Some foods don't stack as I recall, but some do. I wonder how divide food deals with that.

The Wizard, on 12 February 2011 - 01:13 AM, said:

It seems that it’s actually even simpler than Seldane’s instructions. If you play as a rogue, and have at least one follower, dividing food the first time (I think you need at least one food but I’m not sure) will immediately generate an edible strange device. This does not work on any other character type.

The Wizard, on 12 February 2011 - 01:13 AM, said:

In the same place as hand-baked bread and the edible strange device, however both have individual behaviors ("Not very good" (steak) and not curing hunger (device)) and neither can be buttered (), so they are not treated as hand-baked bread in-game, just grouped with them.

Does any other food item give the "not very good" message? I was thinking "strange meat" but that's in Avernum!

It seems to be unique to the steak, which is strange since no other food in the game seems to have a unique response.

I thought kelp had that response as well?

The kelp isn't edible... wait, did you find another bug food item? :o

I have eaten kelp, I'm positive.


Like, 90%.

This post has been edited by Two Jacks: 12 February 2011 - 05:00 PM

I checked both kelps found in the game, and neither were edible. :\ I guess it was another food bug. Do you have any savefiles with edible kelp?