Harvesting newspaper or newsprint

[Maikleeps]

The yield of harvesting newspaper or newsprint is tinder. But the possibility for starting a fire stays the same. IRL: If I use a whole newspaper as a tinder, the possibility is higher to start a fire compared to tearing the same piece of newspaper into 2 or 4 pieces. Is this by design or is it a bug?

[elloco999]

I'm not sure if that is true. When you harvest the newsprint/ newspaper roll you create tinderplugs. This implies doing more that just tearing the newspaper in 2 pieces, you also process each piece. For instance if you take half a newsprint and twist it in on itself a few times, leaving the end loose for easy lighting, it will burn longer compared to just crumpling up an entire newsprint.

Now with a newspaper roll I would say it should have a better chance of starting a fire than a newsprint, as it has twice the amount of paper (at least it yields twice the tinderplugs when harvested) and it is already rolled up making it burn a bit longer. It may also outlast a tinderplug.

[Maikleeps]

Now with a newspaper roll I would say it should have a better chance of starting a fire than a newsprint, as it has twice the amount of paper (at least it yields twice the tinderplugs when harvested) and it is already rolled up making it burn a bit longer. It may also outlast a tinderplug.

I had a wrong understanding of using a newsprint/newspaper roll as tinder (not processed). You are right – using a newsprint as tinder (without twisting it) would not make a fire start. Using a newspaper roll as tinder would maybe make a fire start. Hence, The tinderplug should have a higher rate of success starting a fire than (>) a newspaper roll than (>) a newsprint. Right now the three have all the same rate of success which I think is not correct.

[Shanti]

One thing I have noticed is that it takes the same amount of time to harvest newsprint and a newsprint roll. Shouldn't the time to make a tinder plug be constant? In my mind, if harvesting a newsprint takes 10 minutes and yields 2 tinder plugs, harvesting a newsprint roll should take 20 minutes and yield 4 tinder plugs.

[joki]

Well yes, then maybe the newspaper roll should have increased fire starting chance vs the tinder plugs. So you sacrifice amount for quality. You could also be inclined to question, why the total weight of some items goes up, after you process it by merely splitting it, without adding anything.