Give Feedback
About this image
This is an image from a FO4 mod I'm working on called Project Extend And Change Everything (PEACE).
The PEACE WIP thread can be found here. Note also that PEACE is the sister mod to WARS, the WIP thread for which can be found here. WAR(S) and PEACE, you see?
(If you're wondering what the image is referencing, it's this.)
I've wanted to add MREs to PEACE for a while, as a kind of aspirational/high-tier food type to carry in the field. Something that is efficient in terms of weight to nutrition, and which cannot spoil.
The issue was that in PEACE, I've adjusted "portion size" for food items so that nothing is worth more than 25 caps, since (if I'm understanding the system), anything more than that will go to waste if eaten as soon as you get hungry. (Having to wait until you're starving before you can eat good food without wasting it feels bad. This was a problem in New Vegas too.)
Treating an MRE with a realistic weight value like a single food item didn't fit in with that reduced-portion-size approach, so I'd left it on the back-burner for ages, not sure how to approach it. Recently it occurred to me though that I could treat it like a real MRE: you open it up and get a range of individually packaged food items. So here's how they work in PEACE, copied from the draft readme:
Spoiler:
Show
MREs ("Meal, Ready-to-Eat"):
MREs are packaged military rations. Here they are roughly based on real-world early US MREs from the 1980s. Each one contains a range of food items, and using it will unpack those items:
- MRE Main Course. One of:
--- Beef Stew
--- Cheese & Veggie Omelet
--- Pasta w/Veg in Tomato Sauce
--- Tuna with Noodles
- MRE Course - Fruit Cake
- MRE Crackers
- MRE Peanut Butter
- MRE Cocoa Beverage Powder (Use to mix with Purified Water and produce "MRE Cocoa, Prepared")
- MRE Coffee, Instant (Use to mix with Purified Water and produce "MRE Coffee, Prepared")
- Assorted Candy. (Not pictured here because I forgot. They're vanilla items, though.) One of:
--- Bubblegum
--- Gum Drops
- Water Purification Tablet x2
- Spoon, Plastic
MREs are lightweight (1.1 lb) and will not spoil. (Even after opening them, as their contents are sealed and shelf-stable.) Most MREs found out in the Wasteland will be damaged, however. You may find, upon opening a damaged MRE, that some of its contents are irradiated or destroyed.
Assuming all its contents are intact and in good condition, the contents of an MRE will provide 80 caps worth of nutrition, total.
MREs can be found in loot or at vendors (as can their individual contents), or manufactured in the Food Assembler factory machine. This requires Science! rank 3 - and the high number and range of ingredients required makes them a little inefficient to produce - but they are amongst the most efficient food items to carry, thanks to their low weight and longevity.
MREs are packaged military rations. Here they are roughly based on real-world early US MREs from the 1980s. Each one contains a range of food items, and using it will unpack those items:
- MRE Main Course. One of:
--- Beef Stew
--- Cheese & Veggie Omelet
--- Pasta w/Veg in Tomato Sauce
--- Tuna with Noodles
- MRE Course - Fruit Cake
- MRE Crackers
- MRE Peanut Butter
- MRE Cocoa Beverage Powder (Use to mix with Purified Water and produce "MRE Cocoa, Prepared")
- MRE Coffee, Instant (Use to mix with Purified Water and produce "MRE Coffee, Prepared")
- Assorted Candy. (Not pictured here because I forgot. They're vanilla items, though.) One of:
--- Bubblegum
--- Gum Drops
- Water Purification Tablet x2
- Spoon, Plastic
MREs are lightweight (1.1 lb) and will not spoil. (Even after opening them, as their contents are sealed and shelf-stable.) Most MREs found out in the Wasteland will be damaged, however. You may find, upon opening a damaged MRE, that some of its contents are irradiated or destroyed.
Assuming all its contents are intact and in good condition, the contents of an MRE will provide 80 caps worth of nutrition, total.
MREs can be found in loot or at vendors (as can their individual contents), or manufactured in the Food Assembler factory machine. This requires Science! rank 3 - and the high number and range of ingredients required makes them a little inefficient to produce - but they are amongst the most efficient food items to carry, thanks to their low weight and longevity.
I also made some similar - but much simpler - changes to the Institute Food Packet:
Spoiler:
Show
Institute Food Packet:
The Institute Food Packet is now the Institute's answer to the MRE. Its packaging has always mentioned that it contains "20 enriched bars", and now this is true. Using an Institute Food Packet will now unpack it, producing:
- Institute Nutrition Bar x15
- Institute Nutrition Bar, Caffeine Fortified x5
Each Nutrition Bar provies 15 caps worth of nutrition, and weighs only 0.2 lb. To compensate, the Institute Food Packet has had its value increased from a paltry 10 caps to 240 caps, and its weight increased from 0.5 to 4.1 lb.
Like MREs, Institute Food Packets can be manufactured in the Food Assembler factory machine, but on top of the staggering number of ingredients required and the Science! rank 3 requirement, it is also required that you have completed the "Mankind - Redefined" quest, to gain access to the recipe.
The Institute Food Packet is now the Institute's answer to the MRE. Its packaging has always mentioned that it contains "20 enriched bars", and now this is true. Using an Institute Food Packet will now unpack it, producing:
- Institute Nutrition Bar x15
- Institute Nutrition Bar, Caffeine Fortified x5
Each Nutrition Bar provies 15 caps worth of nutrition, and weighs only 0.2 lb. To compensate, the Institute Food Packet has had its value increased from a paltry 10 caps to 240 caps, and its weight increased from 0.5 to 4.1 lb.
Like MREs, Institute Food Packets can be manufactured in the Food Assembler factory machine, but on top of the staggering number of ingredients required and the Science! rank 3 requirement, it is also required that you have completed the "Mankind - Redefined" quest, to gain access to the recipe.
3 comments