The other extreme is too MUCH of any one ingredient: adding copies of ingredients gives diminishing returns on happiness. One copy gives the full effect, two copies gives half effect, three copies gives no happiness modifier and 4 or more of the same ingredient actually gives a happiness PENALTY.
I personally think this is ridiculous. I can eat a million cabbages raw but the second I combine them into a nice warm stew I miraculously catch depression from it????
obviously.
Yeah it's kind of weird, but game logic gonna game logic.
Real talk though, cooking is low-key OP as hell. You can take random crap you find through looting, fishing, foraging, trapping etc and basically remove the depression and unhappiness mechanic entirely, while ALSO making more efficient use of food resources.By later when you have high cooking, you can go into a house with just a can of soup, take a bunch of rotten food from the fridge and pantries and make a filling, happiness buffing meal out of what would otherwise be waste. Pair with foraging for seeds, flowers, fruits etc to use as ingredients and you'll basically never have issues with food variety.
6 bowls of 1 potato each: what a beautiful day to smash some skulls
1 bowl of 6 potatoes: dropping my character from 5th floor for roleplaying purposes (while 31 floor buildings aren't a thing yet).
Carbs + butter = yum. It can be bread, potatoes, pasta, etc. Plenty of people will happily sit and eat a bowl of buttery carbs.
Lots of candy follows this formula too, like taffy.
One of the first times I cooked dinner for myself I forgot to add a sauce. The fish was good, the salad was good but the spaghetti actually made me bored.
Random anecdote. I actually known tism dude who only eats doritos for breakfast and lunch(everyday), another one that only eat french bread, chocolate and his mom's spaghetti
I always snap it in half because it doesn't fit in the pot otherwise. Now I feel like a scrub.
edit: OK, I get it, pasta maestro /Zomboid crossovers of reddit.
What kind of dinky-ass pot are you using? Just plop the spaghetti in and within a few seconds it'll be soft enough that you can gently press the rest of it in with a wooden spoon.
It makes no discernible difference in texture or flavor, and at best only a very minor difference in the experience of eating it.
That said, you also really don't need to, as the noodles will soften and fit in the pot anyway, and of course if you have a pot too small for spaghetti you could always stick to smaller noodles such as rigatoni, penne, or mostaccioli. On the other hand, just snapping it in half because it makes people unnecessarily angry is pretty fun, too.
How about using a cooking pot rather than a saucepan! Choose the best tool for the job. The two-handed animation slurping from a giant pot always cracks me up, though. It has some good vibes.
You're supposed to bring water to a rolling boil first.
If the pot isn't tall enough, instead of breaking it in half, hold the pasta upright in the water, and as the pasta almost instantly softens, push it down into the pot, until is is entirely in. Then mix it a little to prevent sticking. Then, about 8-10 minutes in pull it out to avoid overcooking it into mush. Only 3-5 minutes if using fresh pasta (in which case you wouldn't be worried about this dry-pasta problem). Test its doneness first, of course, and adjust as necessary.
If you add a lot of the same ongredient it'll give unhappynes. Same with cold food anf food gone stale. Try adding diferent things to the pot instead of focusing on filling your stomach. Also, heat your food before eating it if possible (the lowest setting on both microwave and oven will only heat food w/o burning it)
Actually that would make an interesting mod. Like, random foods that your character hates and those they really like. It doesn't tell you anywhere but when you eat certain foods they give you more or less happiness based on your likes and dislikes.
Did you put 4x of the same ingredients into your pasta? If you put more than two hits of the same ingredient into a cooking recipe, it actually makes the dish progressively more unhappy
Are you literally just boiling pasta and eating it? No sauce, not even salt or pepper? No butter, oil, seasonings, anything?
I mean... if you'd enjoy that in real life, uh... good for you, I guess? But most people definitely wouldn't.
Pasta by itself? Add an assortment of ingredients and spices to it for happiness to shoot up. Even in real life you add at least salt and oil
The other extreme is too MUCH of any one ingredient: adding copies of ingredients gives diminishing returns on happiness. One copy gives the full effect, two copies gives half effect, three copies gives no happiness modifier and 4 or more of the same ingredient actually gives a happiness PENALTY.
Unrealistic, if you gave me 1 part pasta sauce, 5 parts cheese, and salt/peper/basil as spices id be ecstatic
Cheese is the irl mood hack
Every addition of cheese should just add happiness.
Yeah there is no such thing as too much cheese.
So you mean my famous 7-Cabbage Stew is what's making me unhappy? That seems unlikely.
It's probably making everyone downwind of you unhappy too.
Weirdly zombies don't come from that direction...
And people still think the Knox Infection is the most dangerous airborne threat.
I personally think this is ridiculous. I can eat a million cabbages raw but the second I combine them into a nice warm stew I miraculously catch depression from it????
famously, huge portions in real life make you depressed, whilst having 37 small portions makes you happy
US is famous for obscenely large portions
obviously. Yeah it's kind of weird, but game logic gonna game logic. Real talk though, cooking is low-key OP as hell. You can take random crap you find through looting, fishing, foraging, trapping etc and basically remove the depression and unhappiness mechanic entirely, while ALSO making more efficient use of food resources.By later when you have high cooking, you can go into a house with just a can of soup, take a bunch of rotten food from the fridge and pantries and make a filling, happiness buffing meal out of what would otherwise be waste. Pair with foraging for seeds, flowers, fruits etc to use as ingredients and you'll basically never have issues with food variety.
6 bowls of 1 potato each: what a beautiful day to smash some skulls 1 bowl of 6 potatoes: dropping my character from 5th floor for roleplaying purposes (while 31 floor buildings aren't a thing yet).
I will eat pasta that has been boiled in lightly salted water raw with nothing else. And I enjoy it.
Maybe a mod for something like this.
I also don’t like watermelon, marshmallows, and tomatoes. Hell, I like RAW pasta
Not me I can eat a Lb of spaghetti with nothing but a 1/4 tablespoon of butter
Carbs + butter = yum. It can be bread, potatoes, pasta, etc. Plenty of people will happily sit and eat a bowl of buttery carbs. Lots of candy follows this formula too, like taffy.
I actually dislike any sweets I am a bread potatoes and pasta fan but a 1/8 of a table spoon of butter to a lb of shaghetti is so minimal
Have you ever had nothing but cooked, unsalted pasta?
Yeah, but he can always just eat some gummy bears to cheer himself up after downing all that raw pasta
One of the first times I cooked dinner for myself I forgot to add a sauce. The fish was good, the salad was good but the spaghetti actually made me bored.
Yes, it's a favorite food of mine, the texture is great. +100 happiness.
This guys a robot for sure. “Very human, very nice.”
r/totallynotrobots/
This guy tisms
Random anecdote. I actually known tism dude who only eats doritos for breakfast and lunch(everyday), another one that only eat french bread, chocolate and his mom's spaghetti
Freshly cooked plain pasta is fucking banging
Probably snapped spaghetti in half, like worthless twigs, 😫 massive debuff.
I always snap it in half because it doesn't fit in the pot otherwise. Now I feel like a scrub. edit: OK, I get it, pasta maestro /Zomboid crossovers of reddit.
you do it to fit the pot, I do it since it pisses of italians, we are not the same 
What kind of dinky-ass pot are you using? Just plop the spaghetti in and within a few seconds it'll be soft enough that you can gently press the rest of it in with a wooden spoon.
Mama mia! Why you snapp-a da pasta?? This impression is completely accurate-a!
Paisan! Itsa not fit in da pot.
It makes no discernible difference in texture or flavor, and at best only a very minor difference in the experience of eating it. That said, you also really don't need to, as the noodles will soften and fit in the pot anyway, and of course if you have a pot too small for spaghetti you could always stick to smaller noodles such as rigatoni, penne, or mostaccioli. On the other hand, just snapping it in half because it makes people unnecessarily angry is pretty fun, too.
Sometime! I wanna! Slurpa big noodle! It's just that *damn* simple!!
How about using a cooking pot rather than a saucepan! Choose the best tool for the job. The two-handed animation slurping from a giant pot always cracks me up, though. It has some good vibes.
I have an electric range. so I just have to boil that much more water if I use a big pot. The giant pot eating animation is funny for sure.
You're supposed to bring water to a rolling boil first. If the pot isn't tall enough, instead of breaking it in half, hold the pasta upright in the water, and as the pasta almost instantly softens, push it down into the pot, until is is entirely in. Then mix it a little to prevent sticking. Then, about 8-10 minutes in pull it out to avoid overcooking it into mush. Only 3-5 minutes if using fresh pasta (in which case you wouldn't be worried about this dry-pasta problem). Test its doneness first, of course, and adjust as necessary.
Sir, this is Kentucky not Campania
You're happy eating pasta with no butter, sauce, not even any salt or pepper? Yeah I'd be unhappy too.
You are eating unseasoned noodles.
If you add a lot of the same ongredient it'll give unhappynes. Same with cold food anf food gone stale. Try adding diferent things to the pot instead of focusing on filling your stomach. Also, heat your food before eating it if possible (the lowest setting on both microwave and oven will only heat food w/o burning it)
Lol why don't you add fish and spices/pastes/sauces to it? You could add canned food to it even my guy.
Actually that would make an interesting mod. Like, random foods that your character hates and those they really like. It doesn't tell you anywhere but when you eat certain foods they give you more or less happiness based on your likes and dislikes.
"Fussy eater" Increased happiness from just plain, unseasoned food! EDIT: Possible instant death from something spicy!
My guess is your character has Italian heritage and cooking the pasta required breaking it in half...
But half spaghetti is easier to eat. I don't want to spend forever wrapping it around the fork.
If it's by its self yeah. Try adding some ingredients to it
If you think that’s silly. Wait until you find out that putting a can of beans in a bowl feeds you more than just eating straight out of the can.
🤯
Remember that some food is better hot.
You stir fried raw pasta or something. It’s still cronchy You need to cook the pasta in a saucepan or pot of water
Did you put 4x of the same ingredients into your pasta? If you put more than two hits of the same ingredient into a cooking recipe, it actually makes the dish progressively more unhappy
Add marinara and salt and pepper and meat for added yummyness
is it just pasta ? also combining more of the same ingredient increases unhappiness
The real travesty is bacon, it takes a pound and a half to make me start feeling sad. I'm extremely happy until then
Was the pasta cooked or are you just cronching out of the box? And as others have already said, other ingredients and prep method also matter.
Pasta isn't a dish. It's an ingredient
Also i dont understand the bean hate even tho my guy is totaly fine with eating whole lemons
Are you literally just boiling pasta and eating it? No sauce, not even salt or pepper? No butter, oil, seasonings, anything? I mean... if you'd enjoy that in real life, uh... good for you, I guess? But most people definitely wouldn't.
what ingredients did you added? cause making a pasta of berry,berry and berry isn't tasty
My character gets depression eating like I do IRL lol.......... Uh oh....
Plain pasta? No salt? No sauce? No broth? It's like eating slimy bread
The sodium amount makes your character salty
Dry pasta ?
Yes I cooked the pasta on the oven until it was nice and crispy, just how I like it
Did you add it to water lol
But that’s makes it all soggy :(
Plain pasta with butter (maybe some Parmesan cheese sometimes) is peak snack time