Kibble - Is it worth it?

[Naraku]

I've done quite a bit of searching up, and until I began very thorough looking up on the subject of kibble, and exactly what the purpose of it is, I began growing curious. Boy, did it take me awhile to even realize what it was intended for!

So, based on a previous post and my first attempt at making kibble, it takes 20 meat and vegetables to make 50 kibble, correct? If that's the case, wouldn't it be more effective to just feed certain creatures a fine/simple meal? It takes 10 materials in total, and gives .90 and .85 nutrition respectively, to which you can make 4 of with the 20 meat and vegetables you used to make 50 kibble... which gives 2.5 nutrition in total, while the simple/fine meal gives almost -4- nutrition!

Now, to be completely fair, most smaller creatures cap nutrition is low. For example the chicken only has .25, so it would be pretty wasteful on them. But for some of the bigger creatures, like wild boars, who has .7, it may -still- seem to be a waste. To a degree, it is, when you think about the simple meal giving .85, but sadly, it would be just about as effective as kibble! This only increases more with some of the even more large creatures which has a higher nutrition maximum!

Now, I'm sure there are other factors I'm missing, such as when the AI actually eats. (they probably don't wait until their hunger bar is -completely- empty) But it still just seems silly that the gap is pretty large, and could in theory probably be worked to be made more effective, unless there is a bigger picture I'm missing, which is very possible. Also some creatures may not even eat simple/fine/lavish meals if they're available? I suppose I haven't tested/read on that.

I decided to ask this for two reasons; one, I have not seen anyone ask this directly, so it may answer some questions for people in the future. (Hello Google!) Secondly, I too am curious about people's opinion of this, whether I'm missing something important and to prove this incorrect, or two, what they think concerning the balance of it if it is true.

[Listen1]

Well, I usually make kibble out of hay and human meat, but my actual colony is set to produce 500 kibble and I still catch my dogs eating the meals in my freezer.

Maybe kibble has a different effect on animals.

[Aarkreinsil]

Kibble doesn't spoil and you can store it in separate animal zones, in case you don't want your animals to enter your freezer and gulp down all the raw meat there.

Other than the ability of using hay and human meat, it really seems a little pointless, though.

[Naraku]

I usually keep the temperature pretty low, just above freezing at times. I create buildings for the sole purpose of housing the creatures. At least two, one for mating, and the other one as a no-mating zone.

If it gave somewhere in the area of 65-75 instead of 50, (whatever it would be for a little less in nutritional value or equal to) then it would only be beneficial. But until then I've found myself debating on it depending on the situation.

[cultist]

Kibble doesn't spoil and you can store it in separate animal zones, in case you don't want your animals to enter your freezer and gulp down all the raw meat there.

Other than the ability of using hay and human meat, it really seems a little pointless, though.

it cooks faster than meals too. Making one order of kibble takes like 2-3 seconds for a mid-level cook.

[nuschler22]

I have a chicken pen that I dont use anything to feed them.  I simply let them graze.  They don't seem to be malnourished unless they don't have access to grass or crops.

I've done the same thing in the last Alpha with larger animals including dogs which I assume are omnivores (?).  Is this Alpha different?

I haven't had anything other than chickens in this Alpha, so I don't know.  Is kibble/meals necessary for large animals? 

[Aarkreinsil]

When there's snow, animals won't be able to eat the grass apparently.

[christhekiller]

I usually just give my farm animals haygrass, but I'll keep a small stock of kibble near my meals. They usually seem to go for the kibble

[antman51884]

I know that this is an old post, but I wanted to comment on it for newer players. Kibble actually has some nice uses. The main advantages are that you can use hay to make it and it can be stored without needing to freeze it. It is great to feed small animals, especially chickens, which would waste other meals. An animal will eat only enough to get filled up with kibble, maybe 5, while they would eat an entire meal. You can even feed it to prisoners by setting a zone in the cell and turning off the option for colonist to feed them. It gives a large debuff though. Useful if you want them to go berserk.

You could just feed them hay, but I like to use some of my hay for Chemfuel, which sells for a good price. Also, this gives you a use for insect meat and human meat that doesn't give a debuff. Kibble only takes a few secs to make and cooking skill doesn't matter with it, so you can use it to train additional cooks. Or just assign multiple people to make it randomly. Fyi, animals don't get mood debuffs and, if people/prisoners eat it, they only care about it being kibble and not about the insect/human meat inside. So no additional debuffs.

[Wishmaster]

It is true that kibble has the advance of hay and granularity.
But I think it still needs a big buff.
The cost ratio (in terms of nutrition) are the following:

Kibble	0.8
Simple meal	0.59
Nutrient paste	0.33

There is huge gap between kibble and nutrient paste. I never feed my huskies with kibble anymore, I use a mod to force the dispenser to make meals...
However kibble is mandatory for handling animals.

[silenced]

It's still the best use for all the human meat and the even larger amount of insect meat (from the bug-"farm").

[Wishmaster]

It's still the best use for all the human meat and the even larger amount of insect meat (from the bug-"farm").

I think the mood debuff of kibble is worse than the one from cooked human meat.

[Granitecosmos]

Pemmican makes kibble obsolete 90% of the time.

So, based on a previous post and my first attempt at making kibble, it takes 20 meat and vegetables to make 50 kibble, correct? If that's the case, wouldn't it be more effective to just feed certain creatures a fine/simple meal? It takes 10 materials in total, and gives .90 and .85 nutrition respectively, to which you can make 4 of with the 20 meat and vegetables you used to make 50 kibble... which gives 2.5 nutrition in total, while the simple/fine meal gives almost -4- nutrition!

Pemmican gives as much nutrition as a fine meal. It costs the same items to make, most of the time. The only difference is the lack of mood boost and that pemmican stays fresh for a year without refrigeration.

it cooks faster than meals too. Making one order of kibble takes like 2-3 seconds for a mid-level cook.

You need more time for Pemmican too, but it does train cooking more. A high-level cook is one of the most rewarding things in the game, easily doubling the amount of meat and leather you get from butchering.

Kibble actually has some nice uses. The main advantages are that you can use hay to make it and it can be stored without needing to freeze it. It is great to feed small animals, especially chickens, which would waste other meals. An animal will eat only enough to get filled up with kibble, maybe 5, while they would eat an entire meal. You can even feed it to prisoners by setting a zone in the cell and turning off the option for colonist to feed them. It gives a large debuff though.

Pemmican does all that but better.

Pemmican can be used by your colonists as emergency rations. It also sells for a nice amount. The only real use for kibble right now is that you can use hay in the recipe. Human/insect meat isn't a problem for pemmican either if you also produce fine meals. Colonists will go for the meals instead.

I think the mood debuff of kibble is worse than the one from cooked human meat.

This is true but kibble is for animals, not humans. Give your colonists proper meals.

[stu89pid]

However kibble is mandatory for handling animals.

I don't think this is correct. I don't use kibble at all and have no problems training my small boar army to haul. Your pawns will feed the animals anything that is availabile for handling, berries, simple meal, etc.

If you are keeping chickens, kibble is OK to use over simple meals because a chicken doesn't need much nutrition. If you are only keeping larger animals like dogs, boars, and alpaca, I think it is far more efficient to just give them simple meals to eat. You don't have to develop a second process to feed the animals separately from the pawns, and you can just grow a ton of corn or hydroponics to maintain everything.

[Greep]

Main advantage of kibble is just human meat kibble, and storage.  Carve out a large area of mountain and stuff it with kibble for some food that doesn't cost components to keep fresh.