As per the TFC config:
Code:
"food decay" {
# If a food item has not been ticked for >= this number of days than when it is ticked for the first time, only a small amount of decay will occur. [range: 1 ~ 12000, default: 24]
I:decayProtectionDays=24
# This is a global multiplier for food decay. Unlike FoodDecayRate which only modifies the base decay and not the environmental effect upon decay, this multiplier will multiply against the entire amount. Set to 0 to turn decay off. [range: 0.0 ~ 100.0, default: 1.0]
S:foodDecayMultiplier=1.0
# This number causes base decay to equal 50% gain per day. If you wish to change, I recommend you look up a y-root calculator 1.0170378966055869517978300569768^24 = 1.5 [range: 1.0 ~ 2.0, default: 1.0170379]
S:foodDecayRate=1.0170379
# Set this to false if you want food to auto decay when a chunk is loaded instead of limiting decay when a chunk has been unloaded for a long period. [default: true]
B:useDecayProtection=true
}
This means that if a player/town were to find a cold, high, dark area (lets call this a freezer), in a location that is unticked for 24 Minecraft days (lets call this an outpost), then their food would not decay nearly as fast as any food in ticked chunks. Now lets say that the player is part of a community of players (lets call this a town) that has members that may be online at different times of the day and has crops growing and harvested all day long. An IRL day is 72 Minecraft days, or about 0.75 TFC years. So, if the town members were to only visit this storehouse twice in one IRL day, making large trips of goods, this would guarantee that the food would be preserved.
Many towns use this method and it is easily seen if you check the dynmap. I do understand that the truncated values will significantly contribute to faster decay due to the exponential decay rate dictated by the game. But, this is INTENDED by the developers and is an INTEGRAL part of why TFC is so popular and is a SURVIVAL mod.
TFC has a way of bringing people together doesnt it?