How to Calculate Bonus Points for a Recipe in Don't Starve
Consider your dishes., Watch your ingredients., Know your fillers., Check the individual values of each ingredient., Check for zero-value ingredients., Calculate the bonus.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider your dishes.
Most of the time, your dishes will only require a specific ingredient or two, or specific amounts of an ingredient type.
Some dishes are extremely simple, like Meatballs and Meat Stew, where the only ingredient required is certain amounts of meat, and Ratatouille, which requires a certain amount of vegetables.
Other recipes require specific ingredients, like Dragonpie, which requires one dragonfruit.
The key here is experimentation. -
Step 2: Watch your ingredients.
Some food items are rather unfilling, like berries and morsels, while some items are quite filling, like meat and eggplant.
By balancing the amounts and kinds of ingredients you choose, you can maximize the efficiency of the dish while still ending up with the dish you were aiming to create.
Don’t put in too many Monster Meat, Monster Jerky, or Durian ingredients in one recipe, since it will yield a Monster Lasagna.
This actually damages instead of heals, and also inflicts a large penalty on your sanity.
Only do so if you plan on adding a Twig in your recipe. , Fillers are items inserted in the remaining slots of your Crock Pot’s menu so that the four-ingredient requirement is fulfilled.
Most recipes only require a certain amount of items, or the presence of one or two types of food, or a specific ingredient.
Twigs and mushrooms (especially the Red Cap mushrooms most commonly found during the day) are the most efficient fillers.
Mushrooms are poisonous and carry penalties when consumed uncooked, but will carry none of the poisonous risk when used as an ingredient.
Twigs are completely inedible uncooked, but can be used as an ingredient filler.
Berries are also a good filler since they’re readily available and renewable, except during winter.
They’re also not as filling as other foods, which means they make an excellent filler for cheap meals if you have some to spare. , Each individual ingredient has different values and benefits to your Sanity, Health, and of course, Hunger.
The only way to tell is by keeping an eye on your gauges, which you can do by hovering your mouse over the brain, the stomach, or the heart icon in the PC, or by pressing R2 on the console.
It might take a while, but you can check the value for each and every ingredient by eating individual units of your ingredients and taking note of how much health, hunger, and/or sanity they give you.
The Bonus Values primarily refer to the hunger point values, but you can also count the bonus health and sanity gains as well. , These items are considered the best type of filler for their actual lack of value.
Twigs, Honey Comb, and Ice (Reign of Giants) are examples of items counted as ingredients despite being generally inedible.
Some recipes actually call for them.
Mushrooms are considered zero-value, despite being edible, because of their negative effects.
Monster Food counts as zero-value when paired with a Twig. , Once you determine the individual values, you can then calculate the bonuses by adding the values of the individual ingredients up, then subtracting the total sum from the benefits of the complete dish.
For instance, if you made a Fistful of Jam with 4 raw berries, you first need to add up the individual value of the berries, which is a total of
37.48 hunger points and no bonuses to sanity and health.
Subtract that total from the gains of the dish, which is
37.5 hunger points, 5 sanity, and 3 health.
The hunger benefits basically even out, with some bonuses to health and sanity.
Using Cooked Berries, which have a hunger value of
12.5, would devalue the dish by
12.5 points, though the dish itself would heal you for 4 points more and restore your sanity by 5 points. -
Step 3: Know your fillers.
-
Step 4: Check the individual values of each ingredient.
-
Step 5: Check for zero-value ingredients.
-
Step 6: Calculate the bonus.
Detailed Guide
Most of the time, your dishes will only require a specific ingredient or two, or specific amounts of an ingredient type.
Some dishes are extremely simple, like Meatballs and Meat Stew, where the only ingredient required is certain amounts of meat, and Ratatouille, which requires a certain amount of vegetables.
Other recipes require specific ingredients, like Dragonpie, which requires one dragonfruit.
The key here is experimentation.
Some food items are rather unfilling, like berries and morsels, while some items are quite filling, like meat and eggplant.
By balancing the amounts and kinds of ingredients you choose, you can maximize the efficiency of the dish while still ending up with the dish you were aiming to create.
Don’t put in too many Monster Meat, Monster Jerky, or Durian ingredients in one recipe, since it will yield a Monster Lasagna.
This actually damages instead of heals, and also inflicts a large penalty on your sanity.
Only do so if you plan on adding a Twig in your recipe. , Fillers are items inserted in the remaining slots of your Crock Pot’s menu so that the four-ingredient requirement is fulfilled.
Most recipes only require a certain amount of items, or the presence of one or two types of food, or a specific ingredient.
Twigs and mushrooms (especially the Red Cap mushrooms most commonly found during the day) are the most efficient fillers.
Mushrooms are poisonous and carry penalties when consumed uncooked, but will carry none of the poisonous risk when used as an ingredient.
Twigs are completely inedible uncooked, but can be used as an ingredient filler.
Berries are also a good filler since they’re readily available and renewable, except during winter.
They’re also not as filling as other foods, which means they make an excellent filler for cheap meals if you have some to spare. , Each individual ingredient has different values and benefits to your Sanity, Health, and of course, Hunger.
The only way to tell is by keeping an eye on your gauges, which you can do by hovering your mouse over the brain, the stomach, or the heart icon in the PC, or by pressing R2 on the console.
It might take a while, but you can check the value for each and every ingredient by eating individual units of your ingredients and taking note of how much health, hunger, and/or sanity they give you.
The Bonus Values primarily refer to the hunger point values, but you can also count the bonus health and sanity gains as well. , These items are considered the best type of filler for their actual lack of value.
Twigs, Honey Comb, and Ice (Reign of Giants) are examples of items counted as ingredients despite being generally inedible.
Some recipes actually call for them.
Mushrooms are considered zero-value, despite being edible, because of their negative effects.
Monster Food counts as zero-value when paired with a Twig. , Once you determine the individual values, you can then calculate the bonuses by adding the values of the individual ingredients up, then subtracting the total sum from the benefits of the complete dish.
For instance, if you made a Fistful of Jam with 4 raw berries, you first need to add up the individual value of the berries, which is a total of
37.48 hunger points and no bonuses to sanity and health.
Subtract that total from the gains of the dish, which is
37.5 hunger points, 5 sanity, and 3 health.
The hunger benefits basically even out, with some bonuses to health and sanity.
Using Cooked Berries, which have a hunger value of
12.5, would devalue the dish by
12.5 points, though the dish itself would heal you for 4 points more and restore your sanity by 5 points.
About the Author
Raymond Palmer
Enthusiastic about teaching crafts techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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