CleverRaven / CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA
Better butchery tools should give significantly better yields
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- Dominant language
- C++
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Description
# Describe the bug
When butchering an animal, the `BUTCHER` quality of the tools used does not have much effect. Butchering a moose with a full butchery kit (37 butchering quality) gives only about 40% better yields than using a pair of scissors and a hacksaw (-90 butchering quality).
# Steps To Reproduce
1. Find a tree
2. Spawn a leather tarp, long rope, scissors, and hacksaw
3. Spawn a moose, then kill it
4. Butcher the moose on the tarp. (Move the remains aside so you can compare later)
5. Spawn a butcher's kit, and another moose
6. Kill and butcher the moose on the tarp. Compare yields with previous butchery.
# Expected behavior
I would expect a much better yield when using a butcher's kit, than when using a hacksaw and pair of scissors. Only 40% improvement doesn't seem like much, considering the butcher's kit is second only to autonomous surgical scalpels in butchering quality, and the hacksaw is one of the worst tools for butchering.
# Screenshots
Here are the yields for 4 mooses with a butcher's kit (left), and 4 mooses with scissors and hacksaw (right).

# Versions and configuration
- OS: Linux
- OS Version: Distributor ID: Pop; Description: Pop!_OS 20.04 LTS; Release: 20.04; Codename: focal;
- Game Version: 0.E-6047-g61f311ad74 [64-bit]
- Graphics Version: Tiles
- Game Language: System language []
- Mods loaded: [
Dark Days Ahead [dda],
Disable NPC Needs [no_npc_food]
]
# Additional context
The `BUTCHER` quality is *not necessary at all* for any butchering; it is possible to butcher a moose with only a firearm repair kit and some scissors (which give cutting and sawing qualities), provided a rope/tree/tarp are available. It is possible to butcher a zombie with only a pair of scissors.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reproducing the comparison between a butcher's kit and scissors with a hacksaw, then trace where BUTCHER quality affects butchering yields. The issue names no source files or tests, so locate the butchering and yield calculations before deciding how the quality difference should scale. Done means substantially better and consistently testable yields from higher-quality tools.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- cpp
- Domain
- game-dev
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100