Acquiring Food

In Unreal World, one of your major concerns is getting enough food to stay alive. Luckily, there are a couple of methods to do so.

Foraging
The most basic method of getting food, Foraging simply entails picking up different kinds of edible plants. There are three kinds of edible plants in URW: berries, vegetables and mushrooms.

Berries start ripening in summer, when blueberry bushes start growing. They grow until late autumn. The different kinds of berries are:


 * Blueberry
 * Northern bilberry
 * Cranberry
 * Cloudberry

Both the cranberry and cloudberry can only be found marshes. They are easy to find, but yield little in the way of food.

There are only three kinds of grow-able crops in URW, turnips, broad beans and peas. They can be grown with the Agriculture skill. You can acquire seeds by either taking crops from fields, completing the Agriculture task in the Living in the Wild course, or by buying them from stores. Occasionally, general stores will also sell rare vegetables such as cabbages.

There are many different kinds of mushroom in the game. They range from delicious to deadly. Many a poisonous mushroom has meant the end of an otherwise successful character. Remember to boil all mushrooms before eating them, as chances are they will be poisonous otherwise, and never, ever even think of eating a sand mushroom.

Fishing
One of the better ways of getting food, there are two kinds of fishing, Active and Passive.

Active fishing means that you actually stand by the lake/river shore, with a club/spear/fishing rod, waiting for a passing fish. The best tool to use for this is the fishing rod, followed by spears (javelins count) then the club. A complete session of fishing lasts about 3 hours, less if you manage to catch something.

Passive fishing uses nets, which you must trade for. Use the fishing skill to set a net, and also to check it. After setting the net, wait for a few days, then check it. Hopefully you will have caught something. Nets, especially multiple nets, are a very good way of getting food. However, if you forget to check it, the fish inside the net will rot, and you will have nothing to eat.

Hunting
Everybody's favourite way of getting meat, hunting can be a daunting challenge. While hunting for small game (squirrels, hares, foxes and badgers to name a few) may be easy, larger game is not and can easily injure or even kill you if you aren't careful.

To find an animal, either climb up on a tree and scan the surroundings, or use your tracking skill to locate some tracks. Follow the tracks to the animal, where you can choose whether or not to zoom in and look for it. An animal will always be on the same screen as you when you first zoom in.

Different animals behave differently. For example, squirrels like to jump from tree to tree, while hares take off as soon as they see you. Forest reindeer tend to run, but will attack if enraged. Bears and lynxes are deadly, and can kill you with a single swipe. For this reason, it's a good idea to hide to get close enough to attack.

The weapon of choice for many hunters is the bow. Failing that, javelins with Oath of Iron performed on them are also very effective. In any case, attacking from a distance is much safer than trying to get up close and personal, unless you are doing it on purpose.

Dead animals give great rewards in the form of meat and hide. Meat is very nutritious, and hide can be worked into a number of useful items, such as clothing and cord.