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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 5:53 AM Last edited by sr383 : 17th Apr 2011 at 4:53 PM. Reason: Fixed typos
Default Ye Olde Medieval Meal Matrix
The Sims Medieval sure didn’t short us on food choices. There are 90 “normal” entrees to choose from, plus quest-related concoctions and five “master” recipes that are unlocked by Meat Quest IV. That’s a lot of choices! Further complicating things is that we can cook with any of three device types—cauldrons, ovens, and spits—each with its own entrees, moodlets, and buff durations.

I’ve attempted to quantify these differences so that overly anal players like me can make strategic choices about which devices to buy and which foods to make. The attached spreadsheet breaks everything down and can be sorted to emphasize the factors that are most important to you.

Moodlets and Hunger
In reviewing this data, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no relationship between hunger satisfaction and moodlets. We all know gruel is terrible—it gives our poor heroes a -5 moodlet that persists for six hours. But it will completely fill any hero’s hunger bar. By the same token, a wonderful moodlet does nothing for the hunger motive. A hero can still be savoring the buff from a serving of unicornicopia but be absolutely famished.

Furthermore, buffs can’t be stacked. A better buff will override a lesser buff (regardless of how much time remains on Buff A), but a lesser buff will have no impact, at all. If your hero is hungry but is already enjoying a good buff from an earlier meal, you might as well serve up roast rat, field rations, or flat bread. You’ll sate the hunger and won’t waste ingredients.

Device Decisions
Every hero’s house comes with a cauldron, but should you keep it? It offers the lowest average moodlet of any of the three device types (roughly 18), and its “free” entrée (gruel) is the only one that carries a negative moodlet. On the other hand, there are 12 styles to choose from, ranging from the ultra-affordable Cook’s Cauldron (a mere 55 bucks) to the Jacoban Fireplace with its perfect 10 environment score. The cauldron is also good for a quick, +10 Warmed moodlet, though the buff only lasts for 45 minutes.

Alternatively, spits offer a moderate mood buff (19, on average), but the effect lingers for 12 hours, in almost all cases. Ovens give the greatest mood boost (40, on average), but the buff expires in only three hours. All three devices can be used to make poisoned food if your hero is a spy and has poison on hand.

If there’s only room or money for one, I’d go with the oven. For one thing, it’s the only device that will render a free meal with four servings (Field Rations). If your hero is already enjoying a buff from some previous meal, these are a great way to satiate that hunger. Ovens also yield the extremely cost-efficient Fine Loaf – Large. That’s four +20 servings for a mere $9.

Measuring Meals
There are several ways to evaluate meals. How big a buff does it give? How long does the moodlet last? What does it cost to buy the ingredients? How do you compare ingredients you bought with those you got for free during a stroll through the forest? What would you get if you sold the ingredients or the finished meal?

For the sake of consistency, the attached matrix assumes that every ingredient is purchased at retail. A haggler would get better prices, but the discounts would be consistent across the board, so the comparisons are still valid. (I also ignored any potential bargains you might find at your hero’s marketplace.) The bonus buff for Creative Cooks is also ignored here.

“Priceless” Ingredients
But what about the two ingredients that can’t be bought at the Village Shoppe: whale meat and unicorn meat? For the former, I looked at the cost of buying the requisite boat and harpoon. I assumed that each hero would go on approximately three quests each before exhausting all available quest points (without cheats). Thus, a hero with the Whale Ate My Parents trait would have three successful outings. That’s one boat ($560) and three harpoons ($70 each), or $256.66 per outing. Each outing yields 10 whale steaks, so that’s $25.66 per cut.

You might get lucky and stumble across a unicorn in the forest, but the only way to “buy” one is to trade for it. That’s 24 phosphorus traded for 12 magic powders, traded for 3 time machine parts, traded for one piece of unicorn meat. The 24 phosphorus retail for $96, so I set that as the “price” of a slice of unicorn meat. (Of course, you could sell the unicorn meat for many times that amount, so I can’t imagine ever choosing to eat it.) ;-)

What’s a Meal Worth?
I offer a couple of ratios to answer that question. The mood ratio looks at the moodlet divided by the cost of a single serving. The utility ratio measures (moodlet x duration) / cost of a single serving. Personally, I’d rather feed my heroes four slices of Fine Loaf or Master Apple Pie in a day than one long-term meal and a few cardboard treats. Then again, there’s something to be said for only having to cook once a day. …

ETA: For those without Microsoft Office 2007-2010, please note alternate versions later in this thread.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes.zip (41.4 KB, 130 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Medieval Meal Matrix - xlsx version
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Instructor
#2 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 6:53 AM
Oh, wow, thanks, I was a bit bedazzled by the three types of cooking devices and the number of meal options, this is really helpful!

"Deep down I'm pretty superficial"

Lab Assistant
#3 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 8:04 AM
Thanks so much for making this. I don't have excel but was able to open it in Google docs, anyway. I'm getting parse errors in all the columns that have formulas, but it's good to at least have the mood and durations on hand, which show up fine, along with ingredients, so I'm not complainin'

ETA: Just realized there were 3 other pages and they show up just fine, too. Thanks again!
Test Subject
#4 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 8:15 AM
Impressive, most impressive.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 2:52 PM
I figured I might get some requests for alternate formats, so I'm offering four others: xls, PDF, HTML, and tab-delimited text file.

If you've got spreadsheet software, the xls is probably the way to go. If not, the HTML version works remarkably well. You can't sort the columns, but you can see all four tabs and the footnotes.

The other two versions work, but they're not as useful.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes - HTML.zip (29.0 KB, 29 downloads) - View custom content
Description: HTML version
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes - PDF.zip (262.4 KB, 24 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Flat PDF version
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes - XLS.zip (31.5 KB, 20 downloads) - View custom content
Description: XLS version
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes - TXT.zip (2.6 KB, 16 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Tab-delimited text file
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 6:46 PM
Nice! Thanks for the conversions, the xls works perfectly in ye ole Google.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 15th Apr 2011 at 11:45 PM Last edited by garghuul : 16th Apr 2011 at 12:03 AM.
Dolphin: The fish that tastes like meat. It's what's for dinner. Always.

Seriously though, did you go through and make all the dishes or did you pull it from the game files? A lot of work either way, but much appreciated.

In other news the "creative cook" trait seems to misfire on some meals, or maybe I'm misunderstanding how it works? I've also ended up with "Whale of a meal" "Bland meal" and "Delicious" all at the same time. Then again I've also had "Whale Rage" and "Whale Rage satiated" at the same time as well... somehow. The sims do weird drugs when I'm not looking. Perhaps the moodlets aren't parsed the same way for inactive sims as for active ones?
Eminence Grise
#8 Old 16th Apr 2011 at 3:16 AM Last edited by Srikandi : 16th Apr 2011 at 3:35 AM.
Wow, nice work And nice analysis too! I'd reached the same conclusion as you about the oven, but I didn't realize how good the spit was.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#9 Old 16th Apr 2011 at 3:17 AM
Quote: Originally posted by garghuul
Dolphin: The fish that tastes like meat. It's what's for dinner. Always.

Seriously though, did you go through and make all the dishes or did you pull it from the game files? A lot of work either way, but much appreciated.



My wife and I made all 95 meals and noted the results. I, too, have found that the Creative Cook buff is hit or miss.
Test Subject
#10 Old 15th May 2011 at 8:41 PM
Thanks so much for creating this. I've made some improvements for myself, and figured I'd share them here. I've seen others on other sites looking for exactly this; do you object to this being re-posted elsewhere (with due credit, of course)?

As far as the improvements, I've expanded the ingredients into columns to offer another view. Just caught a fish? Now you can quickly see every dish that uses one. Curious if that egg from the store will be useful? Quickly see every recipe that uses an egg. I also recolored columns and rows to enhance readability.

Included in the zip are the modified EXCEL file and a PDF optimized for 8.5 x 11 paper, although I printed mine on 11 x 17.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  TSM - Recipes.zip (271.8 KB, 33 downloads) - View custom content
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