Cooking

Overview

Cooking is a gameplay system in Solarpunk that lets players prepare meals from harvested ingredients. The first version of the system includes around 10 recipes, and more may be added before and after launch.

How Cooking Works

Players combine farmed ingredients at a cooking station to produce prepared meals. Each recipe uses one or more ingredients and produces a food item that can be eaten for a temporary effect.

Hunger and Thirst

Solarpunk has hunger and thirst survival meters. Cooked meals provide temporary bonuses when consumed, typically slowing how quickly those meters drop for a few minutes:

These bonuses let players spend more time exploring, building, or managing their base without stopping for food or water as often. The exact duration and strength of each bonus varies by recipe.

Ingredients

Cooking ingredients come from the player's crops, so a working farm is a prerequisite for cooking. Because storms can destroy unprotected plants, a steady supply of ingredients usually means growing them in greenhouses.

Connection to Other Systems

• Farming: all cooking ingredients are grown crops.

• Multiplayer: in co-op, one player can focus on farming and cooking to supply the group with bonus food.

• Exploration: hunger and thirst bonuses from cooked meals allow longer airship trips between islands without returning for supplies.