Firepit changes

[Banch]

I feel like if the time to heat up a stack of items is proportional to the stack size, then they should be cooking all at once instead of one at a time.

[The Lerf]

We're really getting the worst of both worlds with the current system. I think I like what they're going for here more, but there's no way a stack of 16 flint should take 16 times as long to get up to temperature. The stacks that are being put into the fire aren't solid unitary masses, everything should heat at once at a much more reasonable rate. I know it's been done as a balancing effort, but it's a bit too ridiculous. 

I think OP has the best option here:

On 3/13/2026 at 11:22 AM, williams_482 said:

Items can also cook in batches: Maybe foods like meat and bread are pulled from their stack and cooked in groups of four, small objects like flint cook 16 at a time, and larger objects would keep the current one at a time cadence. 

The balancing lever stops being the stack size, and becomes the campfire. Perhaps this can then open up for larger firepits that need more prep for more efficiently cooking large batches of things?

[Maelstrom]

I think I'd be ok with the incredible time sink for heating an entire stack of flint if the entire stack of flint then calcinated once it reached max temp rather than the current per piece output.  I might just go experimenting to find out the fuel cost to cook different amounts of flint.

[Chuckerton]

Agreed on making it less of a pain. That being said, how did you get a full stack of flint? Did you just run around grabbing flint off the ground or do you know how to find larger deposits? Fire clay is such a pain now. 

Could also just make bellows work with campfires maybe? to raise the temp faster? 

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I think I'd be ok with the incredible time sink for heating an entire stack of flint if the entire stack of flint then calcinated once it reached max temp rather than the current per piece output.  I might just go experimenting to find out the fuel cost to cook different amounts of flint.

On 5/18/2026 at 10:12 PM, Banch said:

I feel like if the time to heat up a stack of items is proportional to the stack size, then they should be cooking all at once instead of one at a time.

and these are absolutely true. 

[Chrondeath]

52 minutes ago, Chuckerton said:

Agreed on making it less of a pain. That being said, how did you get a full stack of flint? Did you just run around grabbing flint off the ground or do you know how to find larger deposits?

It's not hard to get a stack of flint over time if you just pick it up any time you see it (also helps if you have igneous rocks or chert and lean on those for stone tools).  Flint and vines are two things that I try to collect as I happen across them, and then I have a stockpile by the time I have to start using them.

[Maelstrom]

I just pick up loose flint as I'm running about.  First day I can have at least a half stack.  My first day goal is get reeds for storage, flint and sticks to knap out a bunch of tool heads, at least a few logs, food and a clay deposit to dig my initial hobbit hole in to craft up a storage vessel, 2 cook pots, bowl and crucible the first night.  In subsequent days I continue to pick up the loose flint here, there and everywhere and end up with a few of stacks of flint by the time I find enough copper to form my first tools.  Mining flint deposits takes too long and produces low yields in my opinion.

[BlackCDown]

On 5/19/2026 at 12:17 PM, The Lerf said:

The balancing lever stops being the stack size, and becomes the campfire. Perhaps this can then open up for larger firepits that need more prep for more efficiently cooking large batches of things?

Butchering mod has a neat albeit janky approach to this with smoking. You have 16 hooks on the racks, you can put at most 16 red meat on them and I guess the game treats each of them as a distinct item. You start the campfire and everything smokes at the same rate and is done at the same time. You add or remove one and that one will have its own timer.

It has its own implementation problems like hours of progress instantly being reset once the fire goes out (sounds familiar?) but I think this is a good model for allowing batch heating mechanics that also opens the door for mechanics like stack constraints for different heat sources like you said. Which also becomes a potential source for late game progression or visual displays reflecting the number of objects being heated.

Right now it feels like that meme where realism is only invoked at the player's expense like in some games. You will get a quasi-realistic scaling of heating with mass but not the realistic batch completion it comes with.

Edited Thursday at 11:28 AM by BlackCDown