Tree-tapping method for water collection

[CosmicKobal]

the idea behind tree tapping is to tap a knife or other sharp piece of metal at an angle under the bark of a tree, wedge some kind of straw or metal sliver into that hole and set a container of some kind to collect the sap that will drip out. you can safely get about 12 oz or so from a tree per day without overly worrying about harming the tree. the sap is only good for about 18-24 hours before it starts to go rank due to the sugar in it. the best trees I’ve used this method on were poplars.

in the game this would probably be classified as some kind of ‘sweet water’ and would have a low level of nutrition around 5 or so and a quench of around 40 and enjoyability of 2 or so.

if you find yourself far from rivers, swamps or buildings with ‘fresh’ toilets, OR if you don’t have a way to purify the water, this method could save your toons life.

you could even boil the sap-water down to get a small amount of sugar for crafting.

[Random_dragon]

Potentially useful, yeah. Trying to figure out how one would implement such a thing though.

Transpiration bags might be easier to code, at least craftable versions. Plant matter, plastic bag, result auto-transforms into something you can obtain water by disassembling.

[jaked122]

Hrmrrmrm. That’s not a bad idea, though it seems to be a really unlikely thing for most people to consider. I’d say that would probably put the survival skill required around 5 or so. I know that doing this for a pine tree would produce something I doubt would taste very good, but maybe the sap that used to get on my hands when I used to climb trees as a kid wasn’t representative of the taste of pine water in general.

[Random_dragon]

I would assume you’d rather use it on the generic trees, but they’re supposed to be oak, I’m guessing?

Not sure how palatable sap-water from oak is.

As it stands, I can think of several workarounds to make this viable, but none that boil down to its realistic, non-hack-ish implementation.

[jaked122]

Yeah that’s true too.

[Random_dragon]

Exactly. The quickest workaround that comes to mind is the idea of a time-consuming recipe that needs a sap-producing tree as a tool, exploiting the ability for furniture to count as pseudo-tool.

[vache]

I was imagining something like a tap-trap, placeable like a funnel next to a tree and over time it accumulates sap in a container placed in the same tile, like a funnel.

[Random_dragon]

Viable too, but that requires source tweaks, and when I try that, things tend to break. ;w;

[Zaweri_Runewright]

Pine sap tastes like crap. Negative morale.
Birch sap does taste good, that’s positive morale.
Oak sap tastes like crap and shit combined. morale -9001

[Random_dragon]

So, yet more reason we need birch. It’d supplement the “chemistry as a skill” idea, it’d be good for More Survival Tools, it’d be good for this… X3

[Zaweri_Runewright]

So, yet more reason we need birch. It’d supplement the “chemistry as a skill” idea, it’d be good for More Survival Tools, it’d be good for this… X3

As a kid we would tap the 3 meter tall birch “stumps” that my dad left when he was building the dog fence, and make popsicles out of that. Delicious.
And willow sap, kinda sweet, maybe a minor painkiller property. When I was a kid I would cut off a willow branch, peel it and suckle on it. Was delicious. But unhealthy. But delicious.

[Random_dragon]

Never tried that, hmm. o.O

[Zaweri_Runewright]

Never tried that, hmm. o.O

Well, willow sap is unhealthy due to the salicylic acid, which is the active ingredient of aspirin. Only consume in small amounts for killing pain or minor quench.

[Random_dragon]

Hmm. So in game terms, giving it a minor painkiller effect, a negative stim value, or negative health would suffice to discourage overuse.

Now we just need to add birch trees. Aping the blackjack oak is sufficient for getting birch bark for crafting stuff, but adding the ability to tap it would be more involved…

[CosmicKobal]

So, yet more reason we need birch. It’d supplement the “chemistry as a skill” idea, it’d be good for More Survival Tools, it’d be good for this… X3

It’s nice to see people referencing my other threads I also didn’t expect this much response so quick. I had the thought last night that this might work well as some kind of Construction. you would build the construction ON the tree and the type of tree that you build it on would determine the type of sap you get. Speaking of which, pine sap could substitute as superglue for some recipes.

[Pthalocy]

If this tree-tapping gets added, would maples be worth adding? Too redundant? They lack any painkilling properties but like hell if some varieties aren’t excellent sources of sugar water. Yum.

[Random_dragon]

SilverDragon presumably would love that as much as I’d love adding hickory for BBQ. o3o

[Zaweri_Runewright]

I think the trees need to be revamped. My tree experience was ruined by the fact that there’s only 2 types of non-fruit trees. WE DEMAND MOAR!!1

[Random_dragon]

And of course if cedar and cottonwood become a thing, we’d need to add a “seasonal allergies” trait that makes characters suffer if they get anywhere near them.

Though no bloody idea how common cedar and cottonwood are in New England. ._.

[Zaweri_Runewright]

https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/13348