Matches

[nicko]

I created this thread because I see there is still a lot of discussions about matches. Maybe this might be the best place to match our Q&A! and also easy to find.

As we all know there are two types of matches, the cheaper pub type pack matches (blue in game) and the match box type (yellowish box in game). They both seem to come with varied amounts.

Q & A time -

Q: They say as soon as you pick up a box of matches they start to decay, which we know happens to food as well, but my question is say you find a box of matches in it's original spawn point and you pick it up and place it in say a draw or container or even a oven, will the match box suffer still? To me it makes sense food will continue to decay but surely if you place matches in a new draw they wont decay. PS. I know if you carry them around in your pack they will decay that also makes sense!

[selfless]

Matches currently degrade in all locations. Slowly in containers, quicker in hand, fastest on the ground. Degradation does not begin on any spawned object until it has been examined by the player.

Are you suggesting it should be otherwise? I don't want to get into a whole thing about how many hundred days the player should have access to matches cuz I don't believe its broken. Anyone playing past 200 days is cheating themselves out of another great startup experience, IMO.

[octavian]

Degradation does not begin on any spawned object until it has been examined by the player.

Some items never degrade, like jerky or flares.

[nicko]

Matches currently degrade in all locations. Slowly in containers, quicker in hand, fastest on the ground. Degradation does not begin on any spawned object until it has been examined by the player.

Are you suggesting it should be otherwise? I don't want to get into a whole thing about how many hundred days the player should have access to matches cuz I don't believe its broken. Anyone playing past 200 days is cheating themselves out of another great startup experience, IMO.

I think the balance is nice, I'm just trying to find a answer to finding matches and preserving them? ie. say I found a box of matches sitting in a crate on the floor, do I leave it there untouched? or decide to pick it up and place it in a draw or cabinet or what ever storage option in that building I have. does that lose degradation?

[selfless]

If you see them in a surface, and you never touch them, they will remain there forever. Once you touch them, even if you don't pick them up, they will be given a condition rating and degradation will start. At that point, putting them into a container will preserve them longest, but never forever.

So, no, you can't bypass degradation by not bringing them outside...

[Aduron]

I think the balance is nice, I'm just trying to find a answer to finding matches and preserving them? ie. say I found a box of matches sitting in a crate on the floor, do I leave it there untouched? or decide to pick it up and place it in a draw or cabinet or what ever storage option in that building I have. does that lose degradation?

Here's my less-than-expert thinking: the best thing to do is to "not discover them". If you do examine them, then the best thing to do would be to pick them up, and consolidate them in a drawer in your base. You should obviously use the lowest quality matches first, so that means that you should take them from their storage container one box at a time, lowest quality first. It used to be that some container (the white medical cabinets, I believe) degraded matches slower, but I'm pretty darn sure that's no longer the case, and all containers are equal. Using this strategy, you should be making fires often enough (I think) that no matches should be ruined.

On the topic of match quality, I'm pretty sure that the fire-making screen has the matches arranged in descending order, so highest quality first. It's thus annoying if you have many, say, cardboard matches to pan through them to the lowest quality ones. This is in definite contrast to the cooking screen, where the lowest quality food appears first for you to cook. In my opinion, matches should be arranged in increasing order, lowest quality first, so that you use them in the right order. Like I said above, it's best for you to only have one box on you at any time, but sometimes that's not how you're playing, for example if you're playing a nomadic-style game or if you are coming home from a big loot run.

[Foxen]

Sry, but I just don't get the point of all these discussions about degrading of things that usually don't 'degrade' in RL...

You all are trying to make the game more 'RL-like'?

Well then...why should matches degrade in the first place? They can become wet...and therefore useless...till you dry them...

After drying them, they should just work fine again.

It's the same as with crowbars:

Did anyone of you ever experience a 'degrading' crowbar (one that wasn't dumped in saltwater for months or even jears...) in RL!?

What's that all about that you want everything to degrade?

Food...ok!

A rifle...maybe if it's not serviced properly...

Clothing...perhaps if it's to be mistreated...

A backpack made obviously out of some kind of plastic...hmmm...err...usually not! At least not in weeks or months...over years maybe.

Canned food...again...over years...sure.

Guys...if you want everything in the game more 'realistic'...then think realistically...

[TSmith]

If you see them in a surface, and you never touch them, they will remain there forever. Once you touch them, even if you don't pick them up, they will be given a condition rating and degradation will start. At that point, putting them into a container will preserve them longest, but never forever.

So, no, you can't bypass degradation by not bringing them outside...

A tad confused here. I realize that after you pick up the matches the degradation process begins, but if you just hover your mouse over them that starts the process?

[selfless]

A tad confused here. I realize that after you pick up the matches the degradation process begins, but if you just hover your mouse over them that starts the process?

I refer to one's ability to select an object but not pick it up, not passing over the cursor. Strange as it seems, there remains a "feature" allowing one to view the description and condition of an item, spin its 3D model, and decide to either place it in inventory, put it in hand (if possible), or leave it alone. I suspect 99,999 times out of 100,000 it gets picked up. But it doesn't have to be.

But the act of viewing has defined it. And degradation will start. (Except for the things that do not degrade by the passage of time. Some things wear out in other ways. Cuz reasons.)

[TSmith]

Thanks for clarifying Selfless

I have passed my cursor over several boxes/ books of matches, but have never viewed or picked them up/ put them in inventory

[elloco999]

Q: They say as soon as you pick up a box of matches they start to decay, which we know happens to food as well, but my question is say you find a box of matches in it's original spawn point and you pick it up and place it in say a draw or container or even a oven, will the match box suffer still? To me it makes sense food will continue to decay but surely if you place matches in a new draw they wont decay. PS. I know if you carry them around in your pack they will decay that also makes sense!

A: Here's how matches work:

1. As long as you don't "touch" them, the degradation doesn't start. If you find matches when searching a container, the degradation starts even if you don't take it. If you find matches laying around (not in a container), if you touch them the degradation starts even if you put them back. Seeing them is not enough to start the degradation, but clicking on them is.

2. Matches degrade the slowest in a container, but they will degrade if you've "touched" them.

3. I don't know if matches degrade faster on the floor or on your person. I think most items degrade faster on you person than on the floor but I've never tested this for matches. I simply keep a few matches with me for lighting fires and keep all the rest in a container at my base.

4. It used to matter what container you put your items in but that is not the case at the moment. This may be implemented again though.

Sry, but I just don't get the point of all these discussions about degrading of things that usually don't 'degrade' in RL...

This thread isn't about that. The OP simply wanted to create a thread where all questions people have about matches can be answered.

To that end, @nicko, it might be a good idea to gather all questions and corresponding answers in the first post.

[Scyzara]

selfless and elloco999 already explained very well when exactly the degradation process starts, but here are two screenshots for further clarification.

On the first screenshot, degradation hasn't started yet. If I hadn't clicked on these matches (see screenshot 2), they would have kept their starting condition forever.

Screenshot two shows the item condition UI (that pops up as soon as you klick on the item). Looking at this menu actually starts the degradation process.

If you find matches in a drawer, you'll always see the condition UI - the start of the degradation process is thus unavoidable. That's why it doesn't make a lot of sense to put back matches into the particular drawer/cabinet where you found them. Their degradation process has already started anyway and any other container will preserve them equally well as the one in which you found them.

(Small pro tip: If you try a leaderboard run, never loot any drawer or cabinet unless you have a need for matches).

[TSmith]

Leaderboard run is exactly what I am going for, day 320 voyager, I think i can go at least two years, maybe more

Trying to upload a video of my loot to youtube, will link to it in the appropriate forum when i get it figured out.

Check it out and see how long you guys think i can go.

Edit

Vid is up in the Video and streaming forum

[nicko]

selfless and elloco999 already explained very well when exactly the degradation process starts, but here are two screenshots for further clarification.

On the first screenshot, degradation hasn't started yet. If I hadn't clicked on these matches (see screenshot 2), they would have kept their starting condition forever.

Screenshot two shows the item condition UI (that pops up as soon as you klick on the item). Looking at this menu actually starts the degradation process.

If you find matches in a drawer, you'll always see the condition UI - the start of the degradation process is thus unavoidable. That's why it doesn't make a lot of sense to put back matches into the particular drawer/cabinet where you found them. Their degradation process has already started anyway and any other container will preserve them equally well as the one in which you found them.

(Small pro tip: If you try a leaderboard run, never loot any drawer or cabinet unless you have a need for matches).

Maybe the game still needs tweaking then, cause that example the matches are on a simple shelf. so I click select them and move them to a draw or cabinet surely they would then be safe and not degrade still? well I think this is the major question or concern my some players?

I guess they only degenerate if you hold the matches in your pack/inventory!

[Scyzara]

Maybe the game still needs tweaking then, cause that example the matches are on a simple shelf. so I click select them and move them to a draw or cabinet surely they would then be safe and not degrade still? well I think this is the major question or concern my some players?

I guess they only degenerate if you hold the matches in your pack/inventory!

I'll explain it once again: As soon as you klick on the matches and the item condition menu (screenshot 2) pops up, they start to degrade (completely regardless of what you do with them afterwards). They degrade more slowly if you put them into a cabinet and faster if you drop them on the floor or leave them in your backpack. But they will always (and unavoidably) start to degrade once you have seen the condition menu.

[nicko]

Maybe the game still needs tweaking then, cause that example the matches are on a simple shelf. so I click select them and move them to a draw or cabinet surely they would then be safe and not degrade still? well I think this is the major question or concern my some players?

I guess they only degenerate if you hold the matches in your pack/inventory!

I'll explain it once again: As soon as you klick on the matches and the item condition menu (screenshot 2) pops up, they start to degrade (completely regardless of what you do with them afterwards). They degrade more slowly if you put them into a cabinet and faster if you drop them on the floor or leave them in your backpack. But they will always (and unavoidably) start to degrade once you have seen the condition menu.

ok thanks! I get it now just needed to hear it twice to make sense lol - even if it doesn't realistically, yeh then it's a game I know

[Scyzara]

I just checked the degradation rates to make sure the Devs didn't change anything about it during the deep forest update. It's still like before: In your backpack the matches lose 1% condition per day. If you store them in a container, they only lose 0.5% per day. (Numbers are from Stalker mode, might be different in other modes).

[bethany]

I just checked the degradation rates to make sure the Devs didn't change anything about it during the deep forest update. It's still like before: In your backpack the matches lose 1% condition per day. If you store them in a container, they only lose 0.5% per day. (Numbers are from Stalker mode, might be different in other modes).

As far as I know, container degradation rates remain the same across all experience modes.