Wishlist item: candles


Hotzn

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I don't know whether this has been suggested here before, it sure has on the steam forums: candles. They shouldn't make much difference temperature-wise, and they would probably blow out at the slightest gust of wind outside. But they would make it really cozy in any shelter. Just for the atmosphere of being safe for one night's sleep...

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totally keen on this. Sometimes i light a fire just for the ambient light it throws out. Yould could find bee or wasp nests in the trees and use the wax from them? (not sure if you would find these things in winter in Canada, im from the wrong side of the planet!)

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totally keen on this. Sometimes i light a fire just for the ambient light it throws out. Yould could find bee or wasp nests in the trees and use the wax from them? (not sure if you would find these things in winter in Canada, im from the wrong side of the planet!)

wasp nests are more papery than waxy... not sure how far north you'd be able to find a bee nest

I do like the candle idea though!

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totally keen on this. Sometimes i light a fire just for the ambient light it throws out. Yould could find bee or wasp nests in the trees and use the wax from them? (not sure if you would find these things in winter in Canada, im from the wrong side of the planet!)

wasp nests are more papery than waxy... not sure how far north you'd be able to find a bee nest

I do like the candle idea though!

Thanks for clearing that up regarding nests. (should've realised wasp nests are more paper, including the interior) I suppose with all the pine trees around you could in theory make some kind of Pine Pitch tar or something similar for burning or fuel.

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I wouldn't want to waste a match on a candle though. If it's self-inflammatory then yes but if I need a match to light it I'd rather start a fire :D

Maybe you should be able to light a candle using the fire, so when the fire goes out, you can still have the candle burning.

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I'm hoping for candles. Deer tallow and bear fat could be rendered over a fire. Dry fungus makes a suitable wick. Some species of fish are fatty/oily also.

-A safer Candle Lantern could be made using an empty food can. (cans should go to scrap metal or other use)

-Fat and tallow plus fungus could also be used for torches.

-As for the finite matches and firestriker issue, I'm hoping to someday find a flint to spark the candle, torch or tinder plug.

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Then how about this guys: Can you make a wolfskin coat with darkness only? I have always thinking about this, that i can work at workbench all the time, doesnt matter it s night or day, it s unfair right? So i think this is where the candle come in handy, of course we cant waste precious fuel on this so with candles it will work. This way candle can serve its original purpose, make a light. But i think the devs will have alot of work to reprogram so that we cant work in the dark anymore.

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Candles would be an amazing way to improve the atmosphere in this game! The indoors are pitch dark at night and there aren't a lot of options for lighting the indoors. You can be sure that every cabin in Northern Canada has a large supply of candles, and even though I live in the suburbs I always have a 100 pack of tea candles, and they last about 3 hours each.

Some people have mentioned that it doesn't make sense to use a match for a candle, but I hope they make improvements to firestarters in the future. First of all they really need to add the ability to start a fire using a lantern or candle, and the ability to transfer fire from one firepit/candle to another. I think it would also be cool if they added lighters to the game, but mostly the cheap plastic no-name brand lighters that only work for a few dozen lights. Then they could add a super rare zippo lighter that is refillable! That would make bunker hunting a more worthwhile venture!

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Some cool ideas here, so I want to pick up some and suggest:

Introduce candles to the game. A candle would burn for like 3 hours if not blown out by wind. It can be carried around in hand or placed on a surface/floor. It would give of a little less light than the lantern. If burning, it can be transferred inside and outside of buildings. So you could ingnite a candle with the magnifying lens outside and bring it inside. A candle can be used to ignite a stove or fire while burning. It can also be used as a firestarter instead of tinder plugs, but would of course vanish if so used.

Being able to transfer fire from outdoors inside this way would make the game easier, since you would need less matches. This could be offset by having less matches in the game altogether or by making other aspects more difficult in turn.

I am unsure about whether or not I want to be able to craft candles from bear fat, bees wax or the like. Seems a bit off to me. So I would rather first just see prefabricated candles in the game and see how they work within the overall mechanics. Craftability - maybe later.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: candle's would be a great addition.

I agree with Hotzn, candles could be used to transfer fire over distance (maybe a rare find could be a candle lantern that will provide protection from the wind). And of course you should be able to light a fire with a burning candle.

But I would use a candle as an accelerant, not as tinder. If you shave flakes of paraffin of the candle and combine those with your tinder it will make it light easier and burn much longer. And you could do this maybe 3 times with each candle.

Crafting a candle of sorts from animal fat isn't difficult. I've once done it with fat I got from baking bacon. Just collect the fat in any heat proof container, stick a wick in it (I used a twisted cotton ball) and light it. Works just fine. I did learn from my experience that it is wise to not let the wick go above the edge of the container if it's lying against the side. It will let the fat leak over the edge! O and the entire room will smell like baked bacon (if you use that fat) for hours after burning your candle for 5 min :) But this can be done with just about any animal or vegetable fat/ oil.

I also think Pharose has a good idea with not being able to craft in the dark. Or repair or harvest something. Candles would be a useful item to have for doing such things.

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  • 1 month later...

Now that the Abandoned Mine has been added, I have pondered whether candles would still make sense in terms of gameplay. Transferring from CH to PV has been made more meaningful - you have to use up resources (kerosene) to do so and cannot do this many times. Now would it be contraproductive if candles were added, or in other words: If you had candles, would you be likely to cross the mine more often without thinking much? Maybe not if the candles also had their downsides in the mine:

a) There could be sections in the mine with a draft. The candle would flicker and likely go out. The player would have to find a spot out of the draft in the darkness and waste another match to relight the candle. Also, this kind of thing would give me the creeps, I'd love it.

b) The candle would give off less light than the lantern, which would make navigating the mine much more difficult, as the player cannot see very far. There could also be an additional risk of twisting your ankle when navigating the mine with only a candle (not seeing where you step).

I also very much like the suggestion to make crafting impossible when it's pitch dark around the crafting table. This would give candles a special place in terms of gameplay, as they could be placed on the crafting table for night-work (kerosene being too valuable for this). Aaaand - there could be a very special location where an oven or fire barrel shines light directly on the crafting table. In this location, nightly crafting would be possible while a fire is burning.

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I have been waking my character up at night to drink water and snack so that the character condition doesn't track down due to hunger or dehydration during sleep, but coming out of some screens the character's orientation resets to staring at the ceiling. In total darkness, it is very hard to find the bed again and I use a match anyway.

Being able to set out a candle that would would burn for many hours would allow my character to do things at night without being stranded in total darkness.

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Now that the Abandoned Mine has been added, I have pondered whether candles would still make sense in terms of gameplay. Transferring from CH to PV has been made more meaningful - you have to use up resources (kerosene) to do so and cannot do this many times. Now would it be contraproductive if candles were added, or in other words: If you had candles, would you be likely to cross the mine more often without thinking much? Maybe not if the candles also had their downsides in the mine:

a) There could be sections in the mine with a draft. The candle would flicker and likely go out. The player would have to find a spot out of the draft in the darkness and waste another match to relight the candle. Also, this kind of thing would give me the creeps, I'd love it.

b) The candle would give off less light than the lantern, which would make navigating the mine much more difficult, as the player cannot see very far. There could also be an additional risk of twisting your ankle when navigating the mine with only a candle (not seeing where you step).

I also very much like the suggestion to make crafting impossible when it's pitch dark around the crafting table. This would give candles a special place in terms of gameplay, as they could be placed on the crafting table for night-work (kerosene being too valuable for this). Aaaand - there could be a very special location where an oven or fire barrel shines light directly on the crafting table. In this location, nightly crafting would be possible while a fire is burning.

You can already use flares and torches aside from the lantern to navigate the mine. I don't think adding candles would offset the balance that much, especially if they give off less light and or could be blown out by the draft.

I still think candles would be a great addition to TLD.

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+1 for Candles

I think lighting a candle off of a fire would be a no brainer. The player could just use a thin plant stalk to carry the flame from the fire to the candle.

Also, a candle CAN be used to for warmth and long as the location is contained/confined. Using a candle in a snow cave or inside a car will definitely warm up the confined location. The were part of our "kit" during winter team survival training at Ft Carson.

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