Even using all of the explores received per day plus all of the energy cards I get, I still end up paying for food. That being said, here is the suggestion I have in mind, split into several different ideas:

1. Add islands that only have food on them - Easier to find the more pets you have

2. Increase the amount of food found in each pile

3. Get rid of the food system

4. Get rid of explore entirely - food and all - and have this as just another breeding site. The "game" bit is more of a pain than fun right now

5. Get rid of the annoying limitation of islands

6. Decrease the time it takes for more islands to be found as the stables are upgraded.

I'm sure someone with less than fifty pets has it easy finding food as things are right now, but any more than one-hundred pets becomes a burden thanks to the limited explores. More than forty explores a day still isn't giving me the food I need to support my measly one-hundred and forty pets. I can only imagine how bad the current system is for someone with the full two-hundred - which I plan to have at some point thanks to my breeding projects.

As for the idea of reducing the time it takes to find food, here is basically what I mean:

For Stable lvl 1, leave it as it is - every hour.

For Stable lvl 2, one island found every fifty minutes.

For Stable lvl 3, one island found every forty minutes.

And finally, for Stable lvl 4, one island found every thirty minutes.

I agree that something needs to be done about the food situation. The longer people play this game, the more of an issue this is going to become. At 200 pets, you need 3600 pieces of food every single day, and quite frankly that's just nuts. I say, if someone is willing to forage for all of that, let them have at it. Perhaps the answer is not to mess with the teleport system, though. What if we could have gardens and livestock barns? These could operate like golems, in that they would automatically provide a certain amount of whatever item(s) every day, but could be upgraded like buildings to provide more of each item. The idea fits in with the general time-period-feel of the game, and it also just makes sense that large estates would at some point bring this sort of thing in-house to some extent. While I utterly loathe the thought of having to build yet more buildings just to even consider being able to make my goals a reality, and as hard as I shudder to think of what fresh new horrors this might breed for building requirements, it may well be a bit better of a solution than tampering with the explore feature of the game. Gathering food from explore is something that not only makes sense but also increases the enjoyment of the activity. It is not, however, the main focus or point of explore, so owners of larger stables are going to need another source to get the food items they need. Nevermind that growing reliance on explore to feed our pets turns something that is supposed to be fun and exciting into a tedious chore. Each area, each feature, has its function/scope/purpose. It may well be time to consider giving food its due consideration – and areas all its own. I will say that, should any of these suggestions be implemented, I do hope that food never disappears entirely from the Explore game. Not only is it aesthetically nice, it just makes sense and is always a pleasant surprise. Sorry for the long-windedness of this, I'm really quite tired at the moment.

I agree that food disappearing would be disappointing, but at this point...

The only reason I didn't even think to suggest a garden of some sort is because this might turn into some crappy facebook farming game, with the only difference being of having pets, if it's implemented. That would be annoying enough to get plenty of people to leave, I think.

To avoid even thinking of some kind of farming deal, I only listed what I thought would solve the issue. Drastic or subtle, I don't really care, but food is a major problem right now.

If gardens/livestock barns/bee hives/whatever were implemented, they would be buildings, not games. The stuff would just appear in your inventory every day. That is nothing like one of those crappy facebook games LoL XD

If they were implemented as buildings, yeah. The way this game is so far, it's not hard to believe that they'd be implemented as a game of some sort like Explore is, though. Water this, pick that, blah blah blah x3

Yes, I have that much extraordinary faith in this game right now (sarcasm overload) lol

How much more are golemns going to provide, and at what rate?

The whole food thing certainly needs another look.

I like #1,2 and #6... especially 6. It makes more sense than mine.

The only reason I hesitate to say get rid of explore is because its one of the ways to get materials/visit buildings/battle. Getting rid of the food system I would be for- but it affects diet composition which gets into levelling/stats and whatnot. Perhaps that system could be tweaked?

I don't personally see the big issue after playing with the new system for a while. I don't have too much spare time right now, so I explore only my 24 islands a day, very rarely do I use an Energy card for more. I have all the golems currently available and 134 pets. Not once have I used more money than I got from my Townhall, most of the time I only pay a few hundred silver for food. I figure once the remaining golems are implemented, which effectively triples your food, it will be reduced even more.

Sure, you have to explore with higher level pets to get enough food piles on islands, but I only have a few level 40s and a handful of 30s and I can keep my pets fed. Granted, the Townhall money left over won't make me rich, but at least I don't lose money.

Perhaps the food found or the golem turnover needs to be tweaked a bit, but I really don't think this is that big of an issue. Personally, I wouldn't mind the idea of more buildings though, as long as it really doesn't turn into a facebook farm game. I hate that in those you need neighbours to get better and that you have to click dozens of times just to sow/water/harvest your crop and that you have to harvest your crops in time or they wilt and die. O_o

One thing perhaps though with new buidlings.. It could tie into with one of the other ideas where you need to use resources that you wouldn't otherwise need anymore after building certain things, for reuseable things like bandages. I don't know, to get honey you would need a beehive and to start actual production of honey, you might have to use some wood to.. err.. fix the beehive? I don't know, just adding this as I really think the game could use a few resource-sinks like the bandages. I'm sure there are other creative minds out there who could think of far better solutions than my measly wood-for-beehive explanation ;)

I agree that food is an issue, though I'm beyond the point where I can speak from the vantage of someone who is new to the game. Instead, I find myself like Timain as a person who has over 100 pets with all the golems rolling. Speaking from this vantage point, here's what I see:

Yesterday's food bill:

I wanted to actually experiment a little bit, and went ahead and bought 10k units of rabbit meat about two weeks ago, just to have a large quantity of something I could measure, with all the golems rolling. Now, for the forseeable future I've really only had the "one hour a day" to play, as has been suggested by the development staff as a play model to go by. Check messages, check forums, check auctions, tend to breedings, explore 5-7 times is about what I get in that time. Based on that, even with all of the golems currently available, it's still a calculable loss if you fail to explore at least 10-12 times, and that's not even figuring in petty crap like getting kicked off the island early or finding a plot with only one food pile.

Food is, at least in my estimation, is a flimsy mechanic that only seems "fun" or occupying because of the fact that it is a constant thing to manage. Failing to have a supply of food in your inventory is rediculously simple to circumnavigate. I honestly don't see the point in having any in my inventory if the only penalty it means to me is simply losing out on my silver income next rollover. I'd rather have the inventory space for more valuable items. This, coming from someone who isn't pressed for inventory, let alone someone who's only got a warehouse 2 or 3 and is actually looking for ways to dump stuff.

I do agree that once the other golems are released food should be a lot simpler to manage, moreso than it is now. But I don't see the point of making a building when the golems are available, though I will admit I would like to be able to actually own and build a city (what else is a land-owning lord supposed to do?).