Most of the "wilderness/castaway scenario" discussion has been about how much easier it is in Starfinder, since all armor gives you at least 24 hours of air/temperature/pressure/radiation protection, made indefinite if you can get to a working recharge station (like your ship) once per day.
However, another part of survival suddenly became harder in Starfinder: Food and water. The two biggest changes are:
1) Create Water and Create Food and Water have both been removed from the CRB. A lenient GM could houserule them back in, but RAW, spellcasters no longer have a "Cure Thirst" cantrip. (Token Spell can still flavor food, at least, so spellcasters still have their spice-rack-in-a-box cantrip.)
2) Ring of Sustenance is still in the game, but item slots are much more valuable. You only get two slots for any worn magic items, and most classes will still want a Ring of Resistance, even though it's no longer mandatory, meaning the Ring of Sustenance is now competing with every other worn item in the game for the one remaining slot.
Anyone else notice these changes? Together, they do raise the stakes in a survival setting. That being said, most parties will still have at least one member with Survival, so on non-barren planets, this is less of an issue. Still, even though all players now have effectively permanent Life Bubbles (and the spell itself is only 1st level now), that doesn't mean all survival situations have been trivialized.
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The Ring of Sustenance can be largely replaced with the clear and iridescent spindle aeon stones, which together cost 985 credits and remove the need for food, water, and breathing; you're only missing the sleep reduction. For food and water specifically you need only the clear spindle, which costs a mere 245 credits on its own. An aeon stone is slightly more vulnerable than a ring as it orbits your head instead of staying on your finger, but they do not take up magic item slots.
Given that food and drink can be ignored entirely for so little investment, I don't think that aspect of survival has gotten any harder to deal with so long as you account for it. If anything, it's gotten easier; anyone can pick up a clear spindle immediately if they can budget for it, and no casters are necessary. In Pathfinder, Create Food and Water requires a cleric, oracle, or shaman of at least level 5 or 6 depending to have reliable, perpetual access to it.
You can still arrange a survival scenario despite this, but I think the general feeling that the battle against the elements and starvation has been trivialized by default are fairly justified.
At least until you start making the elements you're battling against rather more exotic.
Wow, I had completely forgotten to check the Aeon Stones. I hadn't realized that those two stones were so cheap in Starfinder! Personally, I don't use them much, as I don't like the idea of putting major magic effects into a fragile rock that has to be exposed to work. (We've already started seeing Azlanti Star Empire tech in Alien Archives; maybe there will be other Aeon Stone integration later.)
Don't forget the more "mundane" aspects of survival that have changed. In space, its a lot more likely to end up in a situation where food or water simply aren't available. All but the most ludicrously harsh desert in a fantasy world has food and water somewhere.
In space, you could conceivably be stranded on an asteroid where there is no water at all, and no life period. Even if your stuck on a habitable planet with water, it might have no edible lifeforms. Space opera genre conventions make this less likely than reality would likely indicate, but its still a distinct possibility.
Don't most planets and asteroids have some form of ice? Would it be that hard to melt and then filter it into drinkable water using the tech in a survival kit?
One thing given what we have seen of the building techniques in starfinder I would imagine most space ships have near perfect recycling ability of water aside from any lost due to battle damage. Probably waste recycling as well which could be recycled into components and rebuilt into various food items for a long period of time. The main issue in the wilderness is carrying capacity but those ioun stones are so cheap they just seem like a no brainer when exploring strange worlds that you may or may not be able to find food/water on.
I would also assume that as long as your life support lasts on your armor it should also likely be doing water recycling as well. They are all basically space suits and it would be expected if you had to seal it all the way up it would have some water recycling capability.
Don't most planets and asteroids have some form of ice? Would it be that hard to melt and then filter it into drinkable water using the tech in a survival kit?
The Pact Worlds system has a lot more habitable planets than our solar system does, and it is hard to imagine being unable to find water on any planet where you can breathe the air. Many asteroids will have ice, but I am not sure that "most" do. Since a working spaceship would take care of most of your survival needs, local conditions become critical if you don't have a working spaceship.
Rations in Pathfinder are super cheap and contain food and water. 1 credit and 1 bulk for a week of rations of food and water. You can easily have a month of rations for each player without too much stress (really the main thing is carrying it, but that can easily be solved if anyone is a mechanic with a drone, you can outfit a whole party's food on one).
Since the crafting rule equate UPBs to credits and a weeks rations is only 1 credit, doesn't this mean that anyone willing to setup and take the time, and has at least 1 rank in life science can create months of food and water from... pennies?
Don't most planets and asteroids have some form of ice? Would it be that hard to melt and then filter it into drinkable water using the tech in a survival kit?
Water is essentially the chemical 'ash' of a large number of chemical processes involving hydrogen and oxygen. It's one of the things that are 'left over' after that happens. It's fairly common, but not universal.
Hydrogen, however, is literally the most common element, and Oxygen is the 3rd most common element. So, assuming the SF universe is like ours, you should have the stuff needed to make your own water basically everywhere you go. Even a lifeless metal rock should have hydrogen and/or oxygen trapped inside it (usually chemically bound to other elements), and you can probably 'burn' those in some way to get water.
Don't most planets and asteroids have some form of ice? Would it be that hard to melt and then filter it into drinkable water using the tech in a survival kit?Water is essentially the chemical 'ash' of a large number of chemical processes involving hydrogen and oxygen. It's one of the things that are 'left over' after that happens. It's fairly common, but not universal.
Hydrogen, however, is literally the most common element, and Oxygen is the 3rd most common element. So, assuming the SF universe is like ours, you should have the stuff needed to make your own water basically everywhere you go. Even a lifeless metal rock should have hydrogen and/or oxygen trapped inside it (usually chemically bound to other elements), and you can probably 'burn' those in some way to get water.
Watch and/or read (I did both, very recommended) The Martian to understand the practical consequences of attempting this manually.
That was the slow way. He could have just taken the hydrozine and added it to the nitrogen tetroxide (that's the rocket fuel he was using, IIRC) directly to produce water and a crapton of nitrogen gas.
Pour, mix, boom. Wam bam lake-istan.
I would have definitely died if trapped alone on Mars.
Since the crafting rule equate UPBs to credits and a weeks rations is only 1 credit, doesn't this mean that anyone willing to setup and take the time, and has at least 1 rank in life science can create months of food and water from... pennies?
Honestly it should be doable. If they can mimic other organic compounds and objects if you have the recipe how would printing out an apple be any harder than printing out a gun.
It's just odd to think you can create a week's worth of food out of something that weight less than 1/1000th of the ration's bulk (weight).
It's also weird to think that you can feed a platoon (about 40 people by a quick search) for a month and a half (or almost a week if you go for more reasonable MREs rather than nutrient blocks) with the exact same material it's used to make the most basic projectile pistol.
Indeed. I think I'm going to houserule that food cannot be crafted, or some other balancing factor. It's definitely a houserule, but, for my group, I think it'll be more appropriate.
I'm thinking that UPB's are some kind of nanite capsule, and they can make food in the same way that a plant does, essentially out of thin air + water + energy.
Indeed. I think I'm going to houserule that food cannot be crafted, or some other balancing factor. It's definitely a houserule, but, for my group, I think it'll be more appropriate.
The UPB are basically tightly packed bundles of nanites that you program the template of what you want to build and they build it. If you are building things on an atomic or moleclular level as long as you have the pattern making an organic thing like an apple is not any harder than making an inorganic thing like a pistol. You have the plan and the nanites assemble it to order like the worlds best 3d printer.