(With apologies to Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, et. al.)
It’s been a while since I posted on a Cataclysm forum, and I’m certain you’re all thrilled that I’m back. I’ve started to get into modding the game, and one thing I’ve noticed is that a) there’s a Still with not many recipes and b) there’s not a lot of mixed drinks in the game. This means that certain boozes are tragically more likely to be wasted on bandages or molotovs, rather than realizing their true potential as sustenance for a hobo, companion to a spider burger, relaxant before bed, or mana potion for a crazy bionic commando.
This is just a first pass; as much thought as I was willing to put into it before submitting it for review and thinking about modding it in.
Many mixed drinks require ingredients not currently implemented. These should be easy enough to implement and spawn in places. Their presence in bars might be boosted, giving a reason to check them out rather than looking somewhere more likely to have booze in quantity.
Lemon and lime juice - spawning uncommonly in grocery stores, but also in bars and possibly liquor stores. 7 charges per 250mL, same as liquor, meaning each use is approximately a shot. It’s no more fun or beneficial to drink than it would be to eat a lemon. Bottled juice takes quite some time to go bad, even after it’s opened, so its spoil time could either be very long or ‘never’.
If there’s no lemon juice on hand, regular lemons could be used for a drink instead, as well as possibly limes, which would have to be added.
Simple syrup - uncommon in grocery stores but easy to find in bars. 7 charges/250mL. It comes with an easy crafting recipe, too: water and sugar in a pot on a hotplate.
Tonic water - not too hard to find in various stores. It’d be fine to drink it on its own, but for our purposes it’s meant to be mixed with gin or vodka, so 7/250mL.
The only major issue with mixed drinks is figuring out quantities. Cataclysm seems to handle liquids in lots of 250mL, so maintaining vaguely accurate ratios requires the end result to have more than one charge per 250mL - that is, mixing a seemingly arbitrary number of servings of the drink per craft. Long Island iced tea sets the bar: each drink has approximately as many uses as the amount of alcohol that went into them.
Some of these are more abstract than others. I’m not a professional mixologist, so feel free to suggest changes.
Gin and Tonic
- 3x gin
- 4x tonic water
Tonic water mixed with some gin. It’s a shame it doesn’t have a garnish, but it’s the Apocalypse; what are you going to do?
3 charges. Carries a slightly better quench rating and morale boost than straight gin.
Vodka and Tonic
- 3x vodka
- 4x tonic water
Tonic water mixed with some vodka. It’s a shame it doesn’t have a garnish, but it’s the Apocalypse; what are you going to do?
3 charges.
Cranberry Smash
- 1x vodka
- 1x cranberry juice
A simple cocktail of vodka and cranberry juice. It’d taste better in a tall glass with some ice.
A decent method of preserving cranberry juice, similar to how adding vodka will currently keep your apple cider from spoiling.
Cans of ginger ale could be added for a more authentic recipe.
Whiskey Sour
- 3x whiskey
- 2x lemon juice
- 1x simple syrup
3 charges.
A beverage made with a blend of strong whiskey and strong lemonade. Don’t drink it all in one place.
Black Russian
- 4x vodka
- 1x rum
- 1x coffee syrup
6 charges.
The Irish like their coffee with a shot of whiskey. The Russians like their vodka with a shot of coffee.
White Russian
- 2x vodka
- 1x rum
- 1x coffee syrup
- 1x condensed milk
3 charges. Better quench/nutrition/morale than most drinks.
A premium post-apocalyptic drink, given the scarcity of usable dairy. Best savored slowly.
Kamikaze
- 3x vodka
- 3x triple sec
- 2x lime juice
6 charges.
It’ll make you feel like taking on the whole world. Chances are that’s suicide, though.
Lemon Drop
- 3x vodka
- 2x lemon juice
- 2x simple syrup
3 charges.
Sweetened lemon vodka. It makes a pretty good nerve relaxant.
Margarita
- 4x tequila
- 2x triple sec
- 2x lime juice
6 charges.
A mix of powerful liquor and citrus. Tastes a lot better than just drinking tequila straight.
Daiquiri
- 2x rum
- 2x lime juice
- 2x simple syrup
3 charges.
Rum that’s been enhanced with sweet lime.
Other versions are certainly possible:
Strawberry OR Banana Daiquiri
- 1x rum
- 1x lime juice
- 1x simple syrup
- 1x strawberries OR 1x banana
- a rock OR something
1 charge. Better nutrition than most mixed drinks.
The still has a few neat recipes… but just a few. Until more berries get implemented, let’s work on that a little, shall we? These recipes are going to be a bit sillier, as currently we brew without using yeast and just throwing things in the still for a few minutes, which is a nice abstraction until/if there’s ever a way to craft things that take a while but don’t need undivided attention.
Berry Wine
- 3x strawberries OR 3x blueberries (or cranberries, or blackberries; it could probably work for any berry type that gets added)
- 1x water
- 1x sugar
- Still
possibly 2 charges?
A quick and dirty homemade wine distilled from berries that tastes pretty damn good, if you do say so yourself.
Witches’ Brew
- 1x marloss berry
- 1x water
- 1x sugar
- Still
possibly 2 charges?
A quick and dirty homemade wine made from only the strangest of berries. It’s effervescent - more of a champagne - and surprisingly clear, distorting light strangely when it shines through.
It behaves as you’d expect when consumed.
ghetto limoncello
- 4x vodka
- 2x lemon
- 1x sugar
- Still
6 charges.
Not quite as good as the real thing, but it’s stronger and easier to make.
Similar to strawberry surprise and boozeberry, but less filling/quenching and better for morale.
Gory Mary
- 4x vodka
- 2x tomato
- 25x black pepper (or other seasoning?)
- Still
6 charges.
The Bloody Mary is to this drink what tomato juice is to chunky salsa. Drinking it isn’t a pleasant experience, but some of the nutritional value of the tomatoes has been preserved.
This one’s kind of a reach - another entertaining and disgusting option for homemade hooch, in the spirit of the recipes already implemented.
Hip flask: a steel container, similar to a glass flask. It holds the same amount, takes up the same space, might weigh around as much, but can’t be shattered or used for a molotov cocktail. It might show up in liquor stores, could possibly be crafted, but otherwise you’ll have to get lucky with someone’s dresser or a zombie’s pocket.
The above might be too conservative or more than Cataclysm needs; I might have overlooked a spawn list that would fit some of these items or made some uneven or unreasonable recipes. I’ve barely gotten started with modding, so I’ll take all the input I can get.