The farmhouse stove

[ernestww]

As the nicest stove in the game (so far) IMHO, I wondered if it warrants some tweaking?

Move the fire out of the oven and into the firebox on the left part of the stove.

I also thought that logically this stove should be more efficient with fuel than a fireplace or an open pit fire. Maybe it can cook/ boil two or three things at once?

[danicusrex]

+1

I'd be more likely to hunker down in that room as opposed to the fireplace room.

[AmericanSteel]

I don't know what the "fire" dynamics are in the game beyond the heat they provide at the moment. For instance the pot bellied stove in the Camp Outpost can heat almost the entire upstairs. Stoke both stoves and you could turn that building into a sauna.

Others have advocated the obvious point that stoves retain heat better and, as such, release heat long past the death of the fire. Also, stoves and fireplaces hold embers much longer than a barrel or the cold earth. Being able to bring a once dead fire back to life from a few coals would be would be a nice place to start. You can bring a sputter fire back to life, but those are just the last throws of the dying fire not the coals. To play the devils advocate though, coals would require a wee bit of additional programming. After all, you are not going to get meaningful coals from a fire made of a few sticks, unless you heap a lot of them. Maybe coals duration should be based on some formula of total fire duration.

Which bleeds into how long a object radiated heat. Once a fire is out on the ground, the heat output is pretty darn low (unless you touch the coals). Burn barrel don't hold much heat either. I can't tell you how many times I have stood at a fire warming my hands at a check point while my butt was freezing, so you have to turn yourself on a proverbial spit to keep warm. As soon as the fire dies down you might as well be standing around a frigid flag pole. A stove kicked up hot enough to boil water will radiate heat for hours and not require you to spin in place to keep warm, the radiate heat goes a good distance (indoors anyway). This out course would require more programming.

The only way I would think these changes would become really necessary was if buildings temp ever synced with the out outside temp, where insulation made a difference. Leave a house long enough and they only thing it will provide you is protection from the wind. It will still be an ice box if you don't get some form of heat going. Players will have to get a fire going and make sure they had enough fuel/radiant heat to get them through the night. Otherwise freezing out, freezing inside... your just as dead.

[ernestww]

All good points AmericanSteel, I like the idea of the buildings needing heat. In RL I arrived at a winter cabin, it was about -20 C (-4 F) outside...that wood stove was raging for a solid hour before it was above freezing inside! LOL.

In addition, as you suggested the wood stoves should have a 'thermal mass' equation. After sucking up all that heat, they radiate it back out...

[DarkUncleBoh]

+1 to both the OP and American Steel's points

While yes it would require more programming, the temperature aspect of the game is such a major one that IMO it is justified -- and I for one would love to see a more intricate fire/heat system, including things like:

- differing radiance of heat (how much ambient is heated by the same amount of fuel, dependent on the type of fire)

- thermal mass of stoves (both retaining and providing heat longer after a fire dies down, as well as taking longer to provide meaningful ambient heat when they're entirely cold)

- fires burning down to hot coals, based on how much fuel the fire burned originally (and in what form - open fire, barrel, stove)

- harvesting partial fuel from an open fire blown out by high winds

Another thing I for one would really like to see is a "stoke" mechanic - where you can at any time stoke an already burning fire which will essentially give the fire a "buff" for a while (and you can restoke it before the buff runs out to just rest the buff to its max duration). As long as a fire has the "stoked buff" it burns fuel twice as fast, but also put out 50% additional ambient heat. So it wouldn't be as efficient, but would give you the option if/when you needed more heat etc.

[ernestww]

+1 to DarkUncleBoh

I like the relatively complicated fire mechanic in TLD. I think it should get even more complicated. Stoke fires for more heat and if you have a stove, allow dampening for extended slower heat.

[Fritz Loxen]

The first thing i would do after entering a building to stay was build a fire. it took awhile for me to realize that i didn't need to start a fire. it would match RL better if the temp in the building matched outside.

[saxel]

+1 to the idea of more realistic building heating dynamics

[FrozenLiquidity]

Large metal stoves and other stoves that retain heat longer should be modeled appropriately, +1

[Hatchet_Jack]

Agreed all around.

A more complicated fire, heat output, and building heat-loss system would be really awesome.

Since fire plays such an important role in the game, i agree that its probably justified to spend a bit more effort and give it the complexity it deserves.

Also, from personal experience, just last winter I went to a friend's hunting cabin. We arrived close to midnight and I'll never forget because it was -34C outside. Unfortunately, it wasn't that much warmer inside! Started the wood stove up first thing when we arrived, and the place wasn't fully warmed until morning. And THAT building - basic though it was - had insulation!

[Casazzo]

+1 for better heat mechanics

+ 10 for being able to cook food better. ("Hey. Let's use 10 times 20 minutes to cook that 10 meat scraps")

[Foxen]

..."Hey. Let's use 10 times 20 minutes to cook that 10 meat scraps"...

I find it worst that it doesn't matter wich weight you're actually cooking...it takes 20 min every time.

I'd love to see that the needed time depends on the of each piece...and if they would show us the weight of each piece in the cooking menu.

...and for the 'coffe-' and 'tee-item' a number that shows how many you have in your Inventory while cooking.

...all these things were mentioned by many other Players before...these are not my ideas...but I'd like to have them implemented (asap) too!