Why Tinder?!

[Kauffy]

This is a mechanic I've never quite understood.

I certainly know the role of tinder or kindling in a real fire, but in this game, it is required to start any fire (until skill allows not to), but it does not seem to matter what you use as tinder, and once you can start a fire without tinder, whether or not you use tinder doesn't make a difference either.

So, now I'm in a situation where I don't need tinder to start a fire, but I have tons of it lying around that I have nothing to do with. It would seem like I could just throw that stuff into the fire and get a little extra out of it, or improve my chances of getting a fire to start by using it.

[Pillock]

You're still allowed to use tinder in firelighting after you reach level 3 skill, even though it doesn't make any difference. I do this in order to get rid of the stuff, and because it just feels weird to be able to start a blazing campfire in the middle of a frozen lake just by holding a magnifying glass up to a big lump of cedar.

It it ever became a custom game option, I'd choose to switch off this particular perk for firelighting skill.

[TheEldritchGod]

You are missing the many uses of tinder plugs. They have a property which you don't find in many items:

They are visible from space.

Seriously. When I have rendering maxed out, I can see those suckers for miles. Even when I have rendering distances minimized they are still the first things to pop into focus. I typically turn off all graphics (graphics are for tourists) and thus certain things pop out like a sore thumb. Tinder plugs is one of them. Next after that is the cattail heads. Rocks and birch bark are dead last. But the most useful thing is to mark trails. Every 10 steps is a good rule of thumb. Drop a tinder plug. Now you got a trail across the ice. Wanna do some thin ice scavenging? mark the thin ice areas with tinder plugs. Wanna mark what direction is safe to go? Rocks and Bark do a find job of showing direction, if you place them down in the same order every time.

[ajb1978]

8 minutes ago, TheEldritchGod said:

Rocks and Bark do a find job of showing direction, if you place them down in the same order every time.

Sticks are my go-to trail markers.  They're already pretty much arrow-shaped, so just drop one on the shore pointed at the fishing hut, and one outside the hut pointed back to shore.  Never get lost in the fog again.

[TheEldritchGod]

27 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Sticks are my go-to trail markers.  They're already pretty much arrow-shaped, so just drop one on the shore pointed at the fishing hut, and one outside the hut pointed back to shore.  Never get lost in the fog again.

Only problem with that for me is that I burn all those sticks. I burn them like a FIEND.

Then again, I also mark my trails inside dark area with water bottles. (They stand out like a sore thumb when you use your bedroll like a flashlight.)

[Kauffy]

On 9/21/2018 at 3:26 PM, TheEldritchGod said:

You are missing the many uses of tinder plugs. They have a property which you don't find in many items:

They are visible from space.

 

I should probably pay more attention to what items make good markers, but so far, I'm not using markers that frequently. I think I also just naturally stray away from things that feel like "exploits".

The one I used to use, and I'm not sure if it's still the case, was to drop a single paper match each time. Even though you're dropping a match, what appears is a whole matchbook, and they also had a tendency to stay visible (especially being square and blue) in the gaps between them. It was just a pain to "create" each one.