Chef
| Chef | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Occupations |
| Type | Occupation |
| Points | -2 |
| Skill Boosts |
|
| Free Traits | Keen Cook |
The Chef brings the best cooking start in the game, with butchering skill and a set of known recipes. It suits a survivor who wants every scrap of food to go as far as possible.
The occupation costs 2 points from the trait budget. It starts with four levels of Cooking and two levels of Butchering. It also starts with one level each in Maintenance and Short Blade. The Keen Cook trait comes free, and the Chef knows many baking and preserving recipes from the start.
The Chef matters most in the long middle of a run. Early on, canned and packaged food fills most needs. Once that runs short and fresh food spoils, a skilled cook gets far more from every ingredient. The Chef can spawn in poor, medium or rich housing, which gives a wider choice of starting homes than most occupations.
Chef Skills
Four levels of Cooking make every ingredient go further. Dishes give more nutrition, and less of each ingredient is used per meal. The skill is also well on the way to level 7, where small amounts of rotten food become safe to use. Level 9 doubles that share of rotten food.
Cooking skill helps with poison as well. A higher level makes poisoned food easier to spot. Food found to be poisoned shows a skull icon. A skilled cook's own poison is also harder for others to detect.
Two levels of Butchering raise the quality of meat cut from animals and fish. They also bring the first boost to the parts a carcass can give. Every second level adds another boost, so level 4 is the next goal.
One level of Short Blade makes knife fighting a little faster and stronger. A kitchen knife is a natural first weapon. One level of Maintenance helps that knife last longer in a fight.
Each starting level shows as an experience boost at character creation. Cooking and Butchering get the largest boosts.
A new Chef starts with these skill levels.
| Skill | Levels | Skill Group |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking | +4 | Crafting |
| Maintenance | +1 | Combat - Melee |
| Short Blade | +1 | Combat - Melee |
| Butchering | +2 | Farming |
Chef Free Traits
Keen Cook comes free with the occupation. It teaches the cooking recipes that other characters must learn from magazines. The trait also adds small foraging boosts for junk food, mushrooms, berries, wild plants and herbs.
The Chef's own foraging bonuses stack on top of the trait. Mushrooms stand out most, with strong boosts for berries and wild herbs. Packaged food, medicinal plants, animals and wild plants get smaller boosts. A Chef out searching the woods brings home more wild ingredients than most.
A Chef gets these traits for free.
| Name | Image | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Keen Cook | 
|
Positive Trait |
Chef Recipes
The Chef knows a wide set of dishes from the start. Baking covers cake batter, pie dough, bread dough, baguettes, biscuits and muffins. Cookie recipes include chocolate, chocolate chip, oatmeal, shortbread and sugar cookies.
Other dishes include pizza, breaded onion rings, breaded shrimp, cabbage rolls and guacamole. Sushi, onigiri and maki round out the list. Sushi and maki suit a survivor who fishes.
The Chef also knows how to make a jar of preserved food. Preserving a harvest in jars keeps food edible for much longer. Jars and lids are needed for every batch, so they are worth collecting from every kitchen.
Several known recipes also train Cooking well. Making bread dough, a baguette, cake batter or guacamole gives a good amount of experience. Jarring preserved food gives a solid chunk as well.
A Chef knows these recipes from the start, with no book or magazine needed.
| Name | Image | Recipe | Crafting Materials | Tools | Skill | Station | Learned | Spawn ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x Cabbage Roll | 
|
Make 4 Cabbage Rolls |
|
- | None | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CabbageRoll
|
| Cake Batter | 
|
Make Cake Batter | Fork | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CakeBatter
| |
| 5x Guacamole | 
|
Make Guacamole | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Guacamole
| ||
| Jar of Bell Peppers | 
|
Make Jar of Preserved Food |
|
Bread Knife | Cooking: 0 | In Hand | Yes | /additem Base.CannedBellPepper
|
| 2x Fried Onion Rings | 
|
Prepare 2 Breaded Onion Rings |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.FriedOnionRings
| |
| Baguette | 
|
Prepare Baguette |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Baguette
| |
| Biscuits | 
|
Prepare Biscuits |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Muffintray_Biscuit
| |
| Bread | 
|
Prepare Bread Dough |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Bread
| |
| Fried Shrimp | 
|
Prepare Breaded Shrimp |
|
- | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.ShrimpFried
|
| Baking Tray with Chocolate Chip Cookies | 
|
Prepare Chocolate Chip Cookies |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CookieChocolateChipDough
| |
| Baking Tray with Chocolate Cookies |
|
Prepare Chocolate Cookies |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CookiesChocolateDough
| |
| Maki | 
|
Prepare Maki |
|
Large Knife | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Maki
|
| Plain Muffins |
|
Prepare Muffins |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.BakingTray_Muffin
| |
| Baking Tray with Oatmeal Cookies |
|
Prepare Oatmeal Cookies |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CookiesOatmealDough
| |
| Onigiri | 
|
Prepare Onigiri |
|
Large Knife | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.Onigiri
|
| Pie Dough | 
|
Prepare Pie Dough |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.PieDough
| |
| Pizza | 
|
Prepare Pizza |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.PizzaRecipe
| |
| Baking Tray with Shortbread Cookies |
|
Prepare Shortbread Cookies |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CookiesShortbreadDough
| |
| Baking Tray with Sugar Cookies |
|
Prepare Sugar Cookies |
|
Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.CookiesSugarDough
| |
| Fish Sushi | 
|
Prepare Sushi |
|
Large Knife | Cooking: 0 | Any Surface | Yes | /additem Base.SushiFish
|
How to Play Chef
A Chef thrives in a long run where food is the main worry. The first goals are a cooking pot, a working stove or campfire and a supply of ingredients. Preserving jars early helps carry a harvest through the winter.
Cooking trains in three ways. Cooking food over heat gives experience. Crafting cooking recipes gives experience. Adding ingredients to an evolved recipe such as a soup or stew gives experience too. Butchering a chicken or turkey is one of the best early Cooking recipes.
The Butchering start pairs well with hunting, trapping or fishing. Each animal or fish yields better meat for the cooking pot. A butcher hook is worth building early, because a carcass on a hook gives more parts. Removing a hide on the hook gives a large amount of Butchering experience. A carcass starts losing yield after half a day, so butchering soon after the kill gets the most from it.
Fish also train Butchering between hunts. Slicing a fish into fillets gives the same experience as butchering a small animal.
Pairing the Chef with a farming or foraging plan creates a strong food chain. Gardener suits this plan, since home-grown crops feed straight into the recipes. A good knife and the Maintenance start cover early defence.
Spices reduce boredom and unhappiness in cooked dishes. A Chef who keeps a spice shelf turns plain meals into a mood boost. Stale ingredients other than the base keep a dish fresh, so they are best used up in recipes. A stale base ingredient makes the whole dish stale, though.
The Chef is a support occupation at heart. The combat start is light, so early fights call for care.
Notes
- Preserve food in jars from the start to beat spoilage.
- Butchering skill improves every hunt, trap and fish.
- Build a butcher hook for more parts from larger animals.
- Kitchen knives suit the Short Blade start.
- Keen Cook removes the need for most cooking magazines.
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