Adding Wood Ash For Chemistry

[Thesophonian]

I would like to suggest that wood ash should be added into the game.

This can come in either a waste slot in the campfire or it could be acquired from breaking a burnt campfire.  Alternatively, you could get it by either burning down trees or failing to make charcoal.
Wood ash is known to be very basic and has a number of real life uses that can be added to the game.

1. Soap
Historically, the ashes from burning firewood have been added to water and then mixed with animal fat to create soap. This could be potentially used to remove dye from cloth or shields or other purposes if more dye-able items are added.

2. Fertilizer

Wood ash is used as fertilizer because it's high in potassium and it can be used as a renewable alternative to potash.

3. Pretzel bread
If a very small amount of wood ash is added to water, this is used to make lye, in where bread can be put in to make pretzel bread.

4. Leather
Lastly, if a lot of wood ash was added to water, this would be very basic to the point I think it could work as a substitute for lime-water when making leather.

[Streetwind]

The firepit is one of the oldest blocks in the game, and due for a rework... it's already on the roadmap, in fact.

Hopefully, the reworked firepit can have an output slot for ash. Even if the base game won't use it, I can imagine half a dozen mods that'll instantly pile on the opportunity!

[Sylvia Goat]

+Bump
Ash is used in so much its another thing I'm surprised that isn't already in the game. Getting an Ashery made could easily be another mid game production mechanic, akin to getting a quern. With that you could make, potash, lye, cement ash, waterglass for paint if that ever gets introduced, pearlash for glass, a replacement for the coal in blasting powder. Having that alternative to lime would just be great for just how much of a pain getting lime or borax can be.

[Kriss]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:14 PM, Streetwind said:

The firepit is one of the oldest blocks in the game, and due for a rework... it's already on the roadmap, in fact.

Hopefully, the reworked firepit can have an output slot for ash. Even if the base game won't use it, I can imagine half a dozen mods that'll instantly pile on the opportunity!

My question is a bit off-topic, but where can i find the roadmap?

Edited December 31, 2023 by Kristoffer Andersen

[Streetwind]

@Kriss If you mouse over the "Devlog" button in the top navigation bar, you can see a link to it.

[Yehomere]

This is a great idea. I was about to suggest it before seeing it already existed. The most abundant fertilizer you can possibly think of other than actual excrement (morally opposed to this ever being added) and it never shows itself. There should be far more byproducts for everything.

[Hammerweld]

A fantastic idea. Not sure how it'll play out balance-wise to have easy access to fertilizer, but that's a problem for other folks to figure.

[Thorfinn]

FWIW, several mods do exactly this...

[Yehomere]

On 11/15/2024 at 11:42 AM, Hammerweld said:

A fantastic idea. Not sure how it'll play out balance-wise to have easy access to fertilizer, but that's a problem for other folks to figure.

Is there a use for fertilizer? It has proved completely useless to me in several playthroughs. It was always more worth it to till more soil and plant more crops instead of looking for fertilizer.

[Hammerweld]

19 hours ago, Yehomere said:

Is there a use for fertilizer? It has proved completely useless to me in several playthroughs. It was always more worth it to till more soil and plant more crops instead of looking for fertilizer.

I found it useful whenever I get unlucky with wild plant spawns to quickly get an early yield of a crop I only have like, 1 seed of. And it's not like you can't use both tactics simultaneously.

[Thorfinn]

On 11/19/2024 at 3:58 PM, Yehomere said:

Is there a use for fertilizer?

It speeds up the growth a bit. Most noticeable on the things with lots of nutrient consumption. Onions are a good call, since what else are you doing with all those bones? If you find more saltpeter than you have ingredients for bombs, might as well boost your flax, too.

[Micah Holmes]

I just released a new mod that allows you to make woodash using charcoal.