Fire Pits and Torches
In gameA fire tended is a hearth. A fire forgotten is ash and a lesson.
How a fire burns, how to feed it, what it leaves behind, and how to carry light.
Once lit, a fire has a life of its own. Feed it and it keeps you. Forget it and it goes out.
How a fire burns
- Kindled. The kindling has caught. Feed it now.
- Burning. The wood has caught. It gives heat and light.
- Embers. The last wood is gone, but the bed still glows. Add any fuel, even kindling, and it burns again at once.
- Cold. The embers are out. The cold bed stays about a week, and can be lit again the way you lit it first.
Feeding a fire
Drop or throw fuel into the bed of the fire. Fuel set down beside it stays where it is until you push it in. Fuel that is burning cannot be taken back.
The more wood burning together, the longer the fire lasts, though each piece burns a little faster in company.
- A stick burns about an hour.
- A stick bundle or a log burns about four hours.
- Four logs together burn more than half a day.
Embers last from one hour to ten. A big fire of logs leaves the longest.
Heat
A fire warms all around it, and the warmth falls away quickly with distance. Logs burn hotter than sticks. A fire of logs takes a while to reach its full heat.
What a fire leaves
Sticks leave ash. Kindling, logs and bundles leave nothing.
Charcoal
- Burn four or more stick bundles together.
- Seal the fire in: a solid block over the top, and solid all round.
- Wait. The fire smothers and burns four times slower, without flame, and smoke leaks from the cap.
- When it is done, open it and take the charcoal.
Open it too soon and the charcoal is lost. Seal a fire with fewer than four bundles and it simply goes out.
Torches
A torch burns three to four days once lit, wherever it is: in your hand, on the ground, or set in a wall.
- To light it, hold it and look at a fire or another lit torch, and press Ctrl + right mouse. A torch lying on the ground can also be struck alight with stones, or lit with another torch.
- To set it, hold right mouse a moment. On top of a block it stands upright. On the side of a block it leans out from the wall.
- To put it out, look at water and left click. The burn stops and keeps what was left. Once the torch is dry, light it again and it burns the rest.
- A lit torch is held in the hand. It will not go in the pack.
- A lit torch in your main hand warms you a little.
- A torch that burns out is spent. It cannot be lit again.