What's the point of the nutrient paste dispenser?

[DeathWeasel]

I'll look at how the AI decides between the raw and nutrient paste food sources, to make sure it's working properly.

That's good news.

Interesting to note is that nutrient paste meals are treated differently from nutrient paste dispensers. It seems like pawns will go out of their way to get those meals much more than use the dispenser, despite being the same thing in the end. Another strange thing is that pawns with the Ascetic trait will prefer to eat nutrient paste meals over raw food, but will never use the dispenser.

[ChJees]

Later on when i happen to have no cook i just plop one down. Make it a lot easier to just let the game go on autopilot . (I wish the crafting hysteris was vanilla though so cooks do not have to make meal if it go below the desired value)

NPD just let me be incredibly lazy when the -4 mood debuff won't matter.

[Hieronymous Alloy]

I'll look at how the AI decides between the raw and nutrient paste food sources, to make sure it's working properly.

That's good news.

Interesting to note is that nutrient paste meals are treated differently from nutrient paste dispensers. It seems like pawns will go out of their way to get those meals much more than use the dispenser, despite being the same thing in the end. Another strange thing is that pawns with the Ascetic trait will prefer to eat nutrient paste meals over raw food, but will never use the dispenser.

That makes sense. It could be that the food seeking calculation isn't looking at operating the paste dispenser, just looking for 'meals".

[HazelThyme]

Maybe have the colonist search for food from the "best" option first, then slowly moving down the rung, so that raw food would be only considered after searching for nutrient paste?

[christhekiller]

I'll set up my prisons with a nutrient paste dispensers and set my prisoners to not get food from my wardens, and also I put all the poor meat (bug, human) to be fed through nutrient paste so I don't have to waste any of my good food on prisoners.

[magicbush]

I'll look at how the AI decides between the raw and nutrient paste food sources, to make sure it's working properly.

Awesome to hear, thanks for a response!

[Zhentar]

Interesting to note is that nutrient paste meals are treated differently from nutrient paste dispensers. It seems like pawns will go out of their way to get those meals much more than use the dispenser, despite being the same thing in the end. Another strange thing is that pawns with the Ascetic trait will prefer to eat nutrient paste meals over raw food, but will never use the dispenser.

Ah! There's the (or a, at least) bug. Nutrient paste dispensers are evaluated by the food choosing code as if they were nutrient paste meals... except for one check, the "optimalityOffset" which gives pawns a preference for prepared food over equivalent mood unprepared food. So the 31 tiles I mentioned in my quote is only for actual the meals; using the dispenser itself is only considered 15 tiles better than raw food for regular pawns, and no better than raw food at all for ascetics.

I've put this in Mantis: https://ludeon.com/mantis/view.php?id=2891

[Listen1]

I've put this in Mantis: https://ludeon.com/mantis/view.php?id=2891

Great Job! You can grab a cookie!

[Limdood]

I would VERY much like the ability to "cook" at the NPD.

Would make it easier to feed sick colonists and colonists could carry NPD meals with them.  Would also allow stacks of 10 NPD meals to be stored around the colony (for large colonies) as opposed to NPDs with their own hoppers, conduit, power drain, etc.  VAST reduction in resources needed for what should be a perfectly feasible action: "make" a NPD meal, then drop or haul it....with bills like a stove so i could set it to "make until X" to keep the distant stockpiles full.

In a small colony, it means being able to carry meals around so that colonists can work more efficiently...without microing to get a meal, draft, move, undraft, repeat.

In a large colony, it would reduce power use (for having only 1 "kitchen") OR dramatically increase available pawn labor (drawing 100 NPD meals would take insanely less time than cooking 100 meals).

Also, to the people asking what's the point?
Raw food: 18 units to fill a hunger bar.  Best case scenario, no mood penalty (&tiny joy gain for berries)
Meals or Pemmican: 10 units to make a meal that fills a hunger bar PLUS extra labor to cook, which often represents a significant time investment for 1 or more pawns.  No mood penalty, or +5 mood for fine meals (+10 for lavish, but double the labor AND food required)
NPD: 6 units of food for a meal that fills a hunger bar.  -4 mood.

Based on NPD, cooked meals take 166% of the food, raw food takes 300% of the food of an NPD for the same nutrition.  NPD is FAR more efficient in every capacity, but has a mood penalty.

THAT seems to be the INTENTION of NPDs.  Unfortunately with the lack of ability to make "bulk" NPD meals and the screwy meal-seeking behavior, NPDs are effectively blocked from being used for their (presumed) intended purpose by game mechanic complications.