# Proposing AutoEat

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [November 12, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437 "2018-11-12T19:44:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Unawares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@Unawares](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Unawares)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/1 "2018-11-12T19:44:04Z")

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It was a mad dash, but somehow I’m still alive. Whatever possessed me to try the Big City?? If only I hadn’t needed those antibiotics so badly.

But now I have them. Ha, I can live! Good thing I found all those vending machines along the way, little bits of food sure, but so many of them. That should keep me long enough to recover from my wounds and illness. Now I just need to lie low in this subway station, rest up, and… Gack!?! What is happening?? I am dying, dissolving, fading…

Player: “Well so much for that game. No way am I going through the torture of (E)ating Necco wafers one by one by one. Hmm, anything good on TV?”

…

All that to introduce my proposal for a new feature, AutoEat! I often feel, as I play, that the process of eating - not the gameplay, but working with the interface just to feed my character with the stuff he already has, is a huge annoyance and detriment to the game. All the time and scrolling through pages of inventory and keypresses, just to slowly ratchet back up to “Full”.

I would like an option that automatically uses available food resources, chosen with some intelligence, to feed my character. I think LOTS of other players will appreciate this too.

BUT: how should it work? There is both hunger and thirst to manage, should that be one command or two to autohandle that? Or a command with a submenu of options? What order should items be eaten in? For example by “soonest to spoil”? Optimized to get the character as far from danger states as possible? There are lots of little issues and complications here to think about.

This thread is intended to gather input and discuss how something like this might best work. (Assuming it’s not already being worked on.)

What do you think?

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**Author:** ![pikolinian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@pikolinian](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/pikolinian)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/2 "2018-11-12T21:09:58Z")

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I have once or twice high hunger character, and feeding was worst part of game. not getting food, just clicking.

I’d love to have another option in Advanced Inventory\* - “Stomach” . When I choose it on left tab, rigt is filtered, and calorie value and thirst are displayed instead of mass/volume. I can put items in “stomach” - there should be displayed hunger/thirst status after eating all that stuff. then one key for “execute” - food disappear, hunger goes away.  
one downside is planned increase in eating time, but I guess that can be solved somehow.

\*(or two - second for Furnace, which can be solved in same manner)

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**Author:** ![Unawares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@Unawares](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Unawares)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/3 "2018-11-17T19:50:15Z")

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> [@pikolinian](#):
>
> I’d love to have another option in Advanced Inventory\* - “Stomach”

That could work really well too. Would solve the “ack eating Necco wafers takes so long!” problem, and is very flexible.

Not sure if you would eat as you click, or plan out your menu and then hit commit. Probably the former.

And well… into the stomach, back out of the stomach, into the stomach, back out of the stomach… Ewww? 😁

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**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/4 "2018-11-17T20:09:44Z")

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I think this would also help with extreme metabolism. I basically say fuck it and restart because even if I have plenty of food it. Becomes too much of a pain to just carry and eat all the time.

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**Author:** ![Erk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/erk/32/3871_2.png) [@Erk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Erk)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/5 "2018-11-17T23:16:02Z")

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The idea of a “stomach” tab in advanced inventory is awesome. I’m totally down with that.

I’d also love it if it was possible to sort food by expiry date, joy, quench, and calories. And, to go the extra mile, “optimal quench” and “optimal calories”, ie. Higher joy: quench and joy: calories ratios.

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**Author:** ![Invalid\_Username](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Invalid\_Username](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Invalid_Username)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/6 "2018-11-18T00:02:18Z")

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> [@Erk](#):
>
> The idea of a “stomach” tab in advanced inventory is awesome. I’m totally down with that.

Only if it acts like it does when you move stuff into a fire via advanced inventory, i.e. some things get automatically destroyed, some things immediately begin to dissolve, etc. Otherwise you run into Unawares’s quantum bulimia problem.

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**Author:** ![Erk](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/erk/32/3871_2.png) [@Erk](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Erk)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 12:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/7 "2018-11-18T00:37:11Z")

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I have no idea what you mean there.

I assume you’d move them into your “eat” inventory and then when you close the interface your character would start eating them

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**Author:** ![Unawares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@Unawares](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Unawares)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/8 "2018-11-18T02:27:07Z")

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Currently when you use the advanced inventory time passes as you make changes in the menu. So handling of potential interruptions etc is already built in. Probably an advantage for implementation. My original autoeat idea would have to be able to handle that too, perhaps in a way similar to batch crafting.

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**Author:** ![Unawares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@Unawares](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Unawares)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/9 "2018-11-18T02:31:38Z")

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> [@Invalid\_Username](#):
>
> Only if it acts like it does when you move stuff into a fire via advanced inventory, i.e. some things get automatically destroyed, some things immediately begin to dissolve, etc. Otherwise you run into Unawares’s quantum bulimia problem.

Maybe it needs no inventory list for the stomach at all. Just display updated character info on that side. Hunger, thirst, morale, etc.

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**Author:** ![nameless\_survivor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/nameless_survivor/32/4476_2.png) [@nameless\_survivor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nameless_survivor)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/10 "2018-11-18T02:45:40Z")

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Hell, if the eat menu just didn’t close each time you ate something, it would make things a LOT nicer. Shift-e, a couple keystrokes, and eat eat eat.

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**Author:** ![Unawares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6de8d8/32.png) [@Unawares](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Unawares)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/11 "2018-11-18T02:59:57Z")

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> [@nameless\_survivor](#):
>
> Hell, if the eat menu just didn’t close each time you ate something, it would make things a LOT nicer.

Ha! So very true! 👍

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**Author:** ![TheZoneWizard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thezonewizard/32/1397_2.png) [@TheZoneWizard](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheZoneWizard)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/12 "2018-11-18T12:18:16Z")

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Personally. I like to choose what I eat. I only eat crap I would eat irl too…unless my toon is hard up of course. Auto as an option please. Leave the manual as default =)

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**Author:** ![Stone](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/stone/32/2507_2.png) [@Stone](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Stone)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/13 "2018-11-19T00:08:08Z")

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Lowering portion sizes and compensating by increasing the nutrition would be okay too, but your idea sounds more preferable to me.

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**Author:** ![Trigon](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/trigon/32/2668_2.png) [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/14 "2018-11-19T02:04:09Z")

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Being able to leave the eat menu open and just eat tons of stuff is also a pretty good idea. Nice one @nameless_survivor

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**Author:** ![nameless\_survivor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/nameless_survivor/32/4476_2.png) [@nameless\_survivor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nameless_survivor)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/15 "2018-11-19T05:02:33Z")

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Thank you. The question is will someone who codes the game think it is too, and will they notice? Can we summon the devs by saying their name three times or something, like Biggie Smalls?

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**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 9:23am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/17 "2018-11-19T09:23:34Z")

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If you want, you can write your suggestion as an issue on github. That’s the very best way to get it to the eyes of the devs. This link will take you right to the correct page, choose Feature Request and start typing.

> **[Build software better, together](https://github.com/login?return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2FCleverRaven%2FCataclysm-DDA%2Fissues%2Fnew%2Fchoose)**
>
> GitHub is where people build software. More than 28 million people use GitHub to discover, fork, and contribute to over 85 million projects.

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**Author:** ![TheZoneWizard](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/thezonewizard/32/1397_2.png) [@TheZoneWizard](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheZoneWizard)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/18 "2018-11-19T11:17:17Z")

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No idea how I misinterpreted this. But ok. I got it a day later. Yeah having a toggle option to leave open the eating menu and garble whatever until full is a novel idea.

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**Author:** ![nameless\_survivor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/nameless_survivor/32/4476_2.png) [@nameless\_survivor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/nameless_survivor)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/19 "2018-11-19T16:30:40Z")

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I don’t have a github account, so that link just brings me to the sign in page. Aren’t the devs migrating to somewhere else anyway because GitHub has been consumed by Microsoft?

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**Author:** ![Malkeus](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/malkeus/32/12037_2.png) [@Malkeus](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Malkeus)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/20 "2018-11-19T23:43:01Z")

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Well, there’s your first step. Any suggestions made there will no doubt make the migration if they ever do. I’m not holding my breath.

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**Author:** ![AcarpousAcumen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@AcarpousAcumen](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/AcarpousAcumen)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437/21 "2018-11-20T15:52:39Z")

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I’d love to be able to automatically eat food I’ve preselected while I’m doing other lengthy tasks like reading and crafting, the same way we designate a firewood source. As soon as you have hunger enough to eat the next item, nom. But it’s only on while you’re doing a prolonged task, just like the firewood source.

[Next page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/proposing-autoeat/17437.md?page=2)