Rowan berries

[Saukko]

I was out collecting rowan berries just the other day to make some light mead and jam, and it occured to me that rowan berries are missing from the game. Although they are quite bitter and mildly poisonous if eaten straight out of the tree as soon as they become ripe, after the first night frosts or after boiling (or throwing them into the freezer for a day in modern times) most of the parasorbic acid that makes them bitter is converted into sorbic acid, which makes them less bitter, and the mildly poisonous substances present in the  seeds are also destroyed, especially during cooking.

In game terms, rowan beries could be something that's still available in late autumn/early winter when all the other berries are already out of season (somewhat similar to cranberries). The rowan tree and its berries have had a prominent position in folk magic and folk medicine, so it would somehow feel quite appropriate - would probably require quite a bit of work to add, though; coding the rowan trees so that they can have berries in the first place, plus some new graphics.

[caethan]

You could probably do this with modding (https://www.unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Modding_Plants).

Mod in a new plant for rowan berries, make it spawn only next to rowan trees, add the "poisonous" tag to it, and have it removed when boiled.

Example:

Code: [Select]

.Rowan berries. (4) [berry]
[NAME:Rowan berries]
[TILEGFX:ber-lingon]
[SIZE:M]
[SPROUT:4]
[MATURE:90]
[WITHER:11]
[REGION:eastern western northern southern]
[TERRAIN:spruce_mire fresh meadow grove]
[EFFECT_RAW:gut_irritating]
[REMOVE_BOILED:gut_irritating]
[SYMBIOSIS:rowan]
[POPULATION:5]
[FREQUENCY:25]
[COMMONNESS:100]
[CARB:15]
[FAT:2]
[PROTEIN:1]
[WATER:65]
[HERB_KNOWN:all]

[Saukko]

You could probably do this with modding (https://www.unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Modding_Plants).
Mod in a new plant for rowan berries, make it spawn only next to rowan trees, add the "poisonous" tag to it, and have it removed when boiled.

That's a good idea, I hadn't considered this. I'll try this right away - though as I understand the code, it would spawn the berries next to the tree, but not on top of it, which would be the part that would need some custom coding?

EDIT: Can't get it to work - if I leave out the SYMBIOSIS tag, they appear like normal berry bushes would in that terrain. But once I put that tag back in, they don't appear, at least not anywhere near rowan trees. So either the SYMBIOSIS doesn't work with berries, or there is some conflict with where the rowans appear and the TERRAIN tag for the berries.

[caethan]

Hm.  That's a shame.  My guess on that would be that "rowan" isn't a valid SYMBIOSIS value.  Unfortunately, there's no canonical list of them, only ones that occur in the vanilla files or people have tested.  Present in the vanilla files:

• shallow_water
• watery_soil
• rocky
• pine
• young pine
• birch
• young birch
• spruce

I had figured since several mushrooms symbiose with trees that you could do the same thing with rowans, but maybe not.

Edit:  Yup, tested it.  I can get "rowan berries" to spawn next to spruce, birch, or pine trees, but not rowan or alder.  Probably just not something that Sami has added to the game yet.  Your best bet is probably then to add a new rowan tree plant that spawns separately from the existing rowan trees and makes berries but no wood.