Guilds/NERF/Dictionary

The NERF Dictionary

This is where we will list definitions of words we use on the NERF guildpage.

A

Additive

A recipe is formed of Bases and Additives. The Additives are ingredients which do not have the most total amount of DB. An additive will react only with the base in the recipe which is nearest to it on the Ingredient Map.

eg. In a recipe of 6 camel meat, 1 carrot and 2 discorea, the carrot and discorea are additives.

B

Base Stat

The base stats are the stats that are assigned to foods. These are the numbers which decide if a food is +stat, -stat or =stat. They are not integers (whole numbers) but decimals. This means that there will be rounding, and that one stat may be different strength to another.

Bases

A recipe is formed of Bases and Additives. The Bases are ingredients which have the most total amount of DB. If there are two foods which have the same total of db, then the recipe has two bases. You cannot have more bases than your Cooking level.

eg. In a recipe of 6 camel meat, 1 carrot, 6 oil and 1 xanat, the camel meat and oil are bases.

C

Center Spot

The Center Spot is the area in which the effects of one ingredient only are visible. This spot is found by mixing 6 of the ingredient you wish to find with 5 of a lower Potency ingredient. If you suspect there is interference, move the ratio closer to 1:1, by using 21:20 higher:lower potency.

D

E

F

G

Gastronomy

Gastronomy is one of the methods to increase your perception. It is raised by eating masterpieces which are significantly different from any you have eaten before. At gastronomy 7, you gain the ability to critically evaluate foods, allowing you to see the stats of the food without eating it, and also see the duration. This is especially important since the cooking change that changed potency 'counting' to eating instead of cooking.

H

Harmony

Harmony is the idea that when the ratios of a base and additive are correct, the maximum amount of effect from each ingredient is shown.

I

Ingredient

An item which, when used in a correct recipe, creates a meal in a kitchen.

Ingredient Map

A fundamental part of cooking is the idea that all foods have a position on a grid. The Ingredient Map shows these relative locations, allowing you to see which foods and close and which are far away. In more advanced cooking, it also allows you to check that bases and additives will react correctly.

J

K

Kitchen

A kitchen is where it all happens. You must have at least cooking skill 1 to create one, and it must be upgraded with an Iron Cookpot to create meals.

L

M

Masterpiece

Masterpieces are a special occurrence when you cook. They add points to your Gastronomy level if they are significantly different from any you have eaten before. The method to create masterpieces is unknown, but they generally involve mixed-ratio combinations of high potency foods.

Multiplier

The multiplier is the amount that the base stat of a food is multiplied by. It is affected by both potency and rarity, as shown by the multiplier map here: File:Multiplier mapping.zip - An excel sheet that shows the correlation between Potency {X} and Multiplier {Y}).

N

Nerf (Cooking)

The Cooking Nerf was an occasion in T4 where Teppy (The Big Boss of ATITD) noticed the occurrence of 'Camel Burning'. This involved cooking large (tens of thousands) amounts of camel meat, in order to artificially inflate the rarity (though it is thought not potency) of all other foods. This lead to the changes in cooking calculation which limited the possible stat bonus to ~25 maximum, and changed the calculation to 'On Eat' instead of 'On Cook'. In addition, to prevent people simply cooking 1 second duration recipes, an additional timer (about 7 mins) was added. This timer starts when you eat a meal, and meals eaten within this timer do not count towards the potency/rarity calculations.

O

P

Potency

Potency is a measure of how often an ingredient is cooked. It is measured by comparing durations (tutorial will follow), and it can be used (along with other calculations) to find the location of the food on the Cooking Graph.

Q

R

Rarity

A complex theory, which complements the theory of potency. Rarity is the comparative rarity a food is cooked compared to the most cooked food. This formed the basis of the 'Camel Burn' method. Pre-cooking change, potency/rarity were calculated on cooking, rather than eating as they are now. This meant that it was possible to cook meals of 4000 camel meat, which increased the rarity of all other foods by a very significant factor.

Ratio

Ratio is the standard mathematical definition. The amount of one ingredient compared to another, usually done as base divided by additive. The effects of different ratios in cooking can be seen on [this picture]

Recipe

A collection of foods and their amounts to create a given meal. Due to potency and rarity changes, recipes will change over time.