Fire Source during the Aurora

[ramsis_ii]

Can we have a fire starting source (like an electric lighter) or a craftable one using fuses and wires to have a source of starting fire during the aurora please?

 

Thank you!

 

[K3V038]

17 hours ago, ramsis_ii said:

Can we have a fire starting source (like an electric lighter) or a craftable one using fuses and wires to have a source of starting fire during the aurora please?

 

Thank you!

 

Or using live wires to light a torch or something 

[Leeanda]

5 minutes ago, K3V038 said:

Or using live wires to light a torch or something 

I thought you could do that already?

[ThePancakeLady]

18 minutes ago, K3V038 said:

Or using live wires to light a torch or something 

Eh, the AoE on damage  (electrocution/burns) to the character from live wires during an aurora is a fair distance. Not sure I would be happy about death by electrocution from trying to get close enough to light a torch.

*Maybe* a car battery rigged with wires, but you can't harvest it for scrap lead now, and IRL getting zapped by a car battery while attaching jumper cables incorrectly is not fun and can hurt you (don't try this at home, kids...), and since they contain acid, there is a risk of explosion if wired incorrectly and hot battery acid being jettisoned everywhere. And we all know HL does not usually add something helpful without giving it potential negative effects (risk vs. reward).

We have so many ways to start fires, I honestly don't see the point of adding something that we could only use during an aurora. Lots of people have asked for a bow drill over the years, and that is the only new firestarting method I think I could get behind.

[UTC-10]

I certainly could have used one of those battery-powered arc-type lighters that currently exist for sale, of course it works only during the aurora, whether level 1 and 2* or just level 2, as it would be a generally infinite source, like the magnifying lens, under the right conditions.  It looks to be about the size of a man's fist.  

I have been conditioned by the game to think in terms of extreme economy in using matches (and I am in Pilgrim with LOTS of matches).  Now it dominates when I would use a match.  Of course in any emergency I have no problem, like when I recently got lost near Mindful Cabin in the middle of a white out blizzard and had to have some fire to warm up which worked until the wind direction shifted and blew it out but it had done what it needed to do.  

Anyway, I have thought that I'd like an aurora-powered lighter and even an aurora-powered lantern as a supplement to the flashlight that would be a nice thing to have appear.  I, of course, do not expect anything like that to show up as the game would be coming to a close as far as active updates and expansions would go but it would be nice even now. 

* The aurora seems to have a level 1 or initial limited effects and level 2 or the full effects of the aurora.  Basically when the aurora occurs there is a level 1 effect, then level 2 effect, then back to level 1 effect before it dissipates.  

[UTC-10]

It later occurred to me that the aforementioned battery-powered arc firestarter device would have been a pretty nifty reward, if not completely unexpected due to its scope and range of use, as a reward for finding the Foreman's body wherever it is (hint, hint) as an epilog to the Tales from the Far Territories saga.  It would be most useful in regions where glimmer fog occurs, so fire starting during the day when the fog or overcast prevents use of the magnifying lens, and towards evening or morning or at night whenever the aurora is evident which would be all areas. 

Might be too over-powered but as a firestarting device that uses a phenomenon that occurs at random times over the whole of GBI and FT, it would  have potential wide-spread functionality, but can be tuned or trade offs such as maintenance needed to keep it functional, could be imposed to get some game balance.