Candles!

[Willy Pete]

If there's one thing I'd love to see added to The Long Dark it's the ability to render animal fat into candles. We get lantern fuel from fish, so why not get fat that can then be used to make candles from all the other animals? It's a process that is both feasible for the characters to know and reasonable for the character to do. Just imagine being able to light up some candles to set the mood on a dreary, blizzard-blasting night!

The way I see it, candles would have a few pros and cons compared to other light sources.

Pros:

-Long lasting (some of the candles I've got have lasted well over 12 hours)

-Renewable, crafted light source (everything from the wick to the fat could be harvested from the world)

-Could be used to light other candles/fires/torches/etcetera (if the history books I've read are to be believed, many times in the days of old, back before matches were a thing, households would just have a candle or two burning and would use this for their daily fire and light-making)

Cons:

-Not very bright or warm (You could really only use the light to read/craft at night or navigate dark indoor areas)

-Highly susceptible to wind

-Takes some time to craft

Now as to the actual crafting, I feel like it could go one of two ways, all based upon when you get the fat and the shape that it's in.

Process 1: Rendered fat from cooking meat (AKA the easy way)

In this process, you get the item "Rendered fat" from cooking animal meat. Once you've acquired enough rendered fat you get the option to melt it down in a cooking pot + a recycled can (aka a simple double-boiler). This cooks for X amount of time and gives you hot rendered fat.

From here, you need a wick. How do you get one of these, you might ask? From tinder! Everything from cat tails to birch to tinder plugs could be turned into wicks for the candle (seriously, we NEED more uses for tinder after Level 3 firestarting! I've got 50 or so tinder plugs just sitting on a rock outside my home just waiting to be repurposed).

At this point, you've got your hot rendered fat and your wick, these get combined in the crafting menu and presto! You've got a candle (at least once it's cooled down).

Process 2: Fat from carcasses (AKA a few extra steps...)

In this process, you'll need to render the fat yourself. You get the item "animal fat" when you harvest animal carcasses (or perhaps you could perform an action on raw meat that consumes some calories and give you the fat).

Once you have enough of this fat, you get the option to render it in either a recycled can or cooking pot. IRL, you need to do this for a long time on low heat so for simplicity's sake, you would just have a really long cooking time in-game. Probably too much work keeping the fire's temperature low as the fat renders.

Whatever the cooking process may be, once done you get the item "Rendered fat" and from here Process 1 would kick in.

I think that this could be both a highly rewarding and very fun new item to have in the game. You could even go so far as to add the option to do scented candles that give bonuses if you sit by them long enough (mix some hot rendered fat with prepared rose hips or some coffee to get some sort of fun effect!).

Anyways, what do you guys think? Fun idea? Too much work? Or just the right amount of work to be fun?

EDIT: Almost forgot: animals! As to which animals had the most to least fat, it would definitely be Moose, Bear, Deer, Wolf, Rabbit. Rabbits would give you next to nothing (maybe 0.01 Gallons at the most), but you'd be able to craft candles galore if you got enough fat from a Moose.

[Zappo]

This would actually be really cool to see. Light sources you could place down.

[Mixxut]

Candles are a pretty common request and personally I think they would be pretty cool, but They could also take the storm lanterns job.

Maybe balancing them so you can't read or craft with them could make them still useful but not completely ditch the strom lantern.

[Kaisentlaia]

This could be a very nice addition, I often miss some light in the evenings. I think that obtaining fat from cooking meat would be the best thing, since the mechanic is already in place with lantern fuel from fish cooking, the devs would "only" need to add only one new item.

As for crafting, I love the tinder as wick idea, which would be really useful when you don't need tinder anymore for fire starting (even though cloth as a wick would probably make more sense, and could work if the devs wanted to make the candles more costly).

I'm not sure about the need of two different statuses for the fat tho (hot and cold). For simplicity's sake I think it would be better to have only the "animal fat" item obtained from cooking (so a straight copy-paste of the lantern fuel from fish mechanic), and assume that it's squishy enough to cram it into a can. After all it's not wax which gets pretty hard when it cools down, usually the fat residue you get in a pan after cooking fatty meat is pretty soft even when cool.

I like the idea of using a recycled can to make a candle, not as a tool but as a permanent piece of the candle itself, like a tea light. I think it would make sense to have it sitting in a container, especially if we assume that animal fat would be soft and squishy: when burning it would melt so a container would be needed. So to craft it you'd need a can, a tinder plug and a decent (0.5L?) amount of animal fat.

Another thing I'd like to see if candles were added is a mechanic to avoid moving them if they have been burning for a while, because they would be too hot and easy to spill (like tea lights). Could be nice to avoid using them to explore, rendering the torch/storm lantern obsolete, but would be another added complication so I'm not so sure about it.

Edit: I found many images of can-candles. How cool would this be? 

[Khan_Drichthyes]

I used to have that same can of maple syrup. 

Fat lamps are real.  I remember reading about them being made by prisoners of war to light tunnels they dug to escape from the POW camps (including the ones dramatized in The Great Escape).

After doing a quick google search, I saw several websites and YouTube videos on how to make them.  It looks like they need a special piece around the wick that reflects the heat back upon it to keep the flame going.  This looks like a possible idea for adding to the forge.

One comment on the subject stood out to me, though.  They appear to attract bears.

[Kaisentlaia]

3 minutes ago, Khan_Drichthyes said:

They appear to attract bears.

Another good reason to avoid using them in the open!

[Khan_Drichthyes]

Unless you're trying to bait them to your hunting site.

[Cr41g]

new interloper ++ clothing item.... the melted meat fat spill jacket... guaranteed to garner you much love and attention

[stratvox]

2 hours ago, Khan_Drichthyes said:

I used to have that same can of maple syrup.

I actually have one in my fridge. It's nearly empty though... should get another one.

[Khan_Drichthyes]

2 hours ago, Cr41g said:

new interloper ++ clothing item.... the melted meat fat spill jacket... guaranteed to garner you much love and attention

But has 100% water resistance. 

[Skelegutplays]

Or maybe candles should be findable in packs of 10 and be somewhat rare line these.https://goo.gl/images/YR64w4

 

[Hotzn]

I guess if all the candle threads in the wishlist section were merged into one single thread, it would reach to the moon and back to Earth.

[Doc Feral]

24 minutes ago, Hotzn said:

I guess if all the candle threads in the wishlist section were merged into one single thread, it would reach to the moon and back to Earth.

I also think cougars eat candles.

Or they enjoy having romantic dinners by candlelight.

[ShabbirSS]

wow awesome suggestion

[deepanddark]

Love the idea of candles as an illumination / warmth source.

Candles may be even used for a special "candle lantern" that emits a weaker light than the regular lantern-fuel-powered lantern, but lasts much longer. I would go as far as to add candles as a findable item and an something that's in place in a few existing indoor locations as it would add a lot of atmosphere early on. Story mode would also benefit from candles as they would give players an opportunity to use up some of the matches they find.

Item ideas:

- new candle (lasts half a day or longer)

- used candle (lasts about half as long as a new candle)

- candle stump (lasts a few hours only)

Candles would also bring the game in line with the movie adaption / concept trailer.

[Mad Stratz]

That'd be really practical.

[BareSkin]

No idea if it's been proposed yet, but here it is:

It's difficult to track many candles status: why not having candles spots like cooking spots?

-They'd be near the beds and would allow you to repair clothes and read. They wouldn't bring warmth.

-You'd have to craft them with 1 harvested can (giving this item some usefulness)  + x amount of Oil (from fish), with a max of 0.5L +1 cloth/gut

-It would of course weight harvested can + oil weights

-You'd need a light source to light them up (match/torch/flare), but you can't move it. Like you can use cooking pot on cooking spot.

-You'd be able to light a torch on it, so it's good solution to keep a fire through a night and spare matches when you stay some days at the same place

 

This solution of candles on candles spot reduces drastically the places and as a consequence the number of candles, plus it gives immersion when you got this near the bed you sleep in, and it has a fair price/cost (the oil is not easy to find). I'd say 0.5L candle could have a duration of maybe 72h total which is roughly 7 nights.

[MarrowStone]

23 hours ago, BareSkin said:

It's difficult to track many candles status: why not having candles spots like cooking spots?

You beat me to typing it. haha. Candle spots would also make base choice even more interesting.