Join almost all leathers/meat together?

[Alenerel]

I was thinking on this. Pretty much all leather has the same stats and all meat works exactly the same, so why not join them all in just "leather" and "meat"?
For meat the only exceptions would be insect meat and human meat, so we would have the three types: meat, insect meat and human meat. We could have a couple more categories for exotic meat like just "exotic meat" or leaving them as "thrumbo meat" and (other exotic animals).

The problem I see with leathers is their colors and rarity, For colors we could just be able to select them in the tailoring bench and for the different types might be we could find a half way like joining them like:
- thin leather (chinchilla, raccoon), medium leather (wolf, dog, cat, lynx) and thick leather (elephant, rhino) (thrumbofur and megatherium would still be its own, wool would be the same as it is now)
or
- feline leather, dog leather, wolf leather, etc

Im not quite convinced by the leather alternative I propose to be honest... But I cant come up with anything better. Maybe have it like it is now but joining just a few of them?
In any case I think that the meat part should be done.

What do you think?

[Serenity]

I'd like deer leather, reptile leather, bird leather, canine leather, etc. There could also still be "fur" some of the warmer stuff

[Canute]

I agree to Alenerel to made think clear and simple.
But i know alot people like to have varies of the same kind, or why there are so many weapons mods with stupid nearly same weapons ? :-)
But maybe some modder can take over these idea, and merge all these meat and leather.

[Headshotkill]

Immersion, the reason why Dwarf Fortress despite having no real graphics (though I consider ASCII an art-style and thus graphics) still feels very detailed because almost every item, even if it's function and stats are nearly equal to something else, it's always a bit different.

[Sokar408]

I was thinking on this. Pretty much all leather has the same stats and all meat works exactly the same, so why not join them all in just "leather" and "meat"?
For meat the only exceptions would be insect meat and human meat, so we would have the three types: meat, insect meat and human meat. We could have a couple more categories for exotic meat like just "exotic meat" or leaving them as "thrumbo meat" and (other exotic animals).

The problem I see with leathers is their colors and rarity, For colors we could just be able to select them in the tailoring bench and for the different types might be we could find a half way like joining them like:
- thin leather (chinchilla, raccoon), medium leather (wolf, dog, cat, lynx) and thick leather (elephant, rhino) (thrumbofur and megatherium would still be its own, wool would be the same as it is now)
or
- feline leather, dog leather, wolf leather, etc

Im not quite convinced by the leather alternative I propose to be honest... But I cant come up with anything better. Maybe have it like it is now but joining just a few of them?
In any case I think that the meat part should be done.

What do you think?

I disagree. If there is one thing gaming in the last few years has taught me, its that "streamlining" can easily go too far, and rob a game of its charm and "soul". This might not be over the line, but it works the way it is, as such I see no need to change it.

You could perhaps make an argument, for making clothing production more detailed, so that you could combine resources, for example a X leather jacket, with Y leather sleeves, or something to that end. But streamlining should never be a priority, unless it helps deepen the game, instead of taken depth away.

[grinch]

No, i like subtypes. If you have trouble with items list being too long check this for make collapsible
http://imgur.com/PKib5H3

[JimmyAgnt007]

A middle-ground solution would be to allow patchwork clothings and such, for if you have bits of several different kinds of leather.  So you take the average stats of whatever you use for the item you make.  Pawns favor using the fewest types possible but will grab whatever they need to do it.  Meals allow for several types of 'stuff' in their cooking so its not too far fetched. 

[Alenerel]

No, i like subtypes. If you have trouble with items list being too long check this for make collapsible
http://imgur.com/PKib5H3

I use that since day 1 and its pretty annoying to be expanding the groups after loading the game.

[Thane]

A middle-ground solution would be to allow patchwork clothings and such, for if you have bits of several different kinds of leather.  So you take the average stats of whatever you use for the item you make.  Pawns favor using the fewest types possible but will grab whatever they need to do it.  Meals allow for several types of 'stuff' in their cooking so its not too far fetched.

+1 Jimmy. One mod I liked in A15 provided the ability to blend leathers. That made clothing production much simpler.

[Lerin]

In Hardcore SK this is pretty presented, every leather, metal type, have their uniqe stats. Beds from ice creatures, are warmer, from rare creatures have really good medical factors, others are just really expensive... Unification is not cool

[Bozobub]

I think something like this is best (and relatively easily-done) as a mod, not a change to the vanilla game.

[Boston]

You guys do realize that, if you actually read the information description tab, all leather in the game has been stretched, scraped and tanned.

If you remove the hair from a hide, there is very little difference between pig leather, deer leather,  reptile leather and bird leather. Once it gets stretched, scraped and tanned, it will almost literally "behave" the same, whether in regards to clothing-making, insulation, etc.

Just put it all together in "hides". I can't tell you how many times I have had scraps of leather floating around my base that was useless, because I "didn't have enough" to make something.

[Hieronymous Alloy]

Most leather in the game is interchangeable statwise but not ALL leather, just most.

Rhinohide is tougher against cutting and bludgeoning, for example, while Pigskin is much more resistant to burning damage.

So it isn't just a cosmetic difference. There are some significant stat differences as well for a small number of leather types.

If you remove the hair from a hide, there is very little difference between pig leather, deer leather,  reptile leather and bird leather. Once it gets stretched, scraped and tanned, it will almost literally "behave" the same, whether in regards to clothing-making, insulation, etc.

IRL, there are significant differences -- ostrich leather is very high-priced and used in high end fashion belts, for example, which could be reflected in value/beauty stats.


Personally, I like the variation and would like to see more game-numbers, stat variation between leather types. Make ostrich and lizard leather more valuable, for example.

[Cimanyd]

No, i like subtypes. If you have trouble with items list being too long check this for make collapsible
http://imgur.com/PKib5H3

I really should have started using that a long time ago; thanks.

There still shouldn't be menus like this:



That's less than half of the meat menu. There are only three real options in that menu: human meat, insect meat, and everything else (animal meat).

I just checked, and Alpha 6 (earliest version I have; when I started playing) had a total of 6 different kinds of animals. Muffalo, deer, squirrels, boomrats, iguanas, and megascarabs. The only reason there were that many was to differentiate the three biomes, which was a new feature in A6. I suspect this system is left over from numbers of animals closer to that than to the above image.

Leather at least has differences in stats and in the color of products manufactured from it. All animal meat is already completely identical, right? (other than having one of two graphics) Why shouldn't it be combined? Sure there's the idea of "we just killed all the manhunting boomalopes, so we'll be eating boomalope meat for a while!" but your colonists don't actually care that they're eating boomalope meat and not venison, or rat meat, or their favorite pet, so there is no "depth" there in the first place and no reason for them to be separate items.

[cainiao]

Blame dwarf fortress, which is where this game pull its idea from.

In dwarf fortress, at least there is masterdf mod to unify meat and leather.