Originally posted by How Bizzah:
Originally posted by Crater Creator: Yeah, this feedback is confusing given how the game actually works currently. As far as "completely breaks immersion" I'm on the opposite side. It breaks immersion how you can pick up any 5 rocks off the ground and start a fire with them. I can't do that. In fact, even a primitive survival expert isn't likely to pull that off. And this is a survival game. Back when I made a mod for the game, I changed the recipe so you can't start a fire without an ember.
P.S. If the OP's thesis for this thread amounts to thoughts on losing empty jars, please see the existing thread on that topic instead.
To be fair smashing rocks together doesn't make fire, the rocks have to be mostly Flint and struck at a specific angle and either way Friction fires are easier and possibly faster if you either don't know how to find Flint or live in a place where it's hard to find it.
In both methods you don't "Start a fire" you create a small ember, which you then place in some dried tinder (Grass or even Fallen Leaves) that then turns into fire when exposed to the right amount of air flow.
But either way, making a fire really isn't that hard. It's just another example of a basic skill our not-so-distant ancestors knew but we forgot.
Pretty much. Primitive survival interests me, but there are other approaches. In a zombie apocalypse scenario, you could certainly find matches, a cigarette lighter, a purpose-made fire starter, etc. through looting. Or parts of the world may be on fire already, literally.
Anyway, my argument goes that this is a survival game. The survival horde crafting game, to be precise. So it needs to do what it says on the tin. People are attracted to this game
because they want a game that simulates survival challenges. And in all survival I've seen, having and maintaining a fire is worth time and effort, as much as anything else. Having fire always accessible within seconds, in all parts of the world, even when starting from nothing does not seem like a survival game. I'd like fire to be more involved/challenging/interesting than that.
I don't mean to drift off topic but the way I had it in ComSenMod, the campfire recipe required an ember. You could acquire an ember from various sources, like ember piles in the burnt forest, or you could scrap a torch (I also put occasional burning barrels on the roads). You still started with a torch, so if you needed a fire right away you could make one. And once you had a fire, you could 'cook' wood into more embers. But you'd also need animal fat to make another torch, so in the early game you had an interesting choice. What do you need more your first night: a light source and makeshift weapon you can carry with you, or a station for cooking food & water?
It was by no means a "super-realistic mechanic," but it meant you had nontrivial decisions to make about fire, in the early game before you were more established. Instead of fire being an afterthought no matter where you are or what you have.
I remember I had one game where a zombie or something destroyed my only torch that was placed in the world, before I had a campfire, and it sucked for me. And that was an awesome survival challenge, like breaking your leg or getting infected. Or like hypothermia
should be, if they'd beef up weather survival. But I digress.
Edit: typo
devtrackers.gg