Cheap weak permanent light

[heptagonrus]

What do you think guys about introducing another cheap weak permanent light source to the game.

Something like embers (similar to those red beauties when firepit is out), maybe left after torch has burned out.

Or something with fireflies (without murder ). Or bioluminscence, e.g. by rotting wooden logs in specific conditions. Might be flickering slightly or slowly changing color a little.

With light value of 2-3 ([edited]: value of 1 or even 0 would be also great).

Main reason - decoration, road marking.

When I see those monumental roads by Milo on the server, I wish they had some lights to be visible from some distance.

Also, since such sources might be visible like stars from quite good distances at night, there might be lot of possiblilities for landscape marks, like small lighthouses.
Beautifying mountains, marking build areas, making paths in gardens, etc.

Probably they should be mountable on any block side, for beautifying caves or writing big letters on mountains.

[tony Liberatto]

Have you seen my Roads? They are very lighted.

I use the bowl fat candle and they look pretty good.

I understand your position, but right now fat and clay are very cheap.

the only thing I would like is chip way to burn clay bowls.

[heptagonrus]

Yes, I saw them, ofc they are nice. But imho the oil lamp is quite expensive, mostly by time. Clay forming the most, fat "farming", clay burning, and they have stack size 8 so cant fire and forget.

Also it gives light more for the lighting of the surrounding area.

Also did you travel along Milo's road to the -3000 base? Too much oil lamps

[tony Liberatto]

Not yet, I intend to extend the "Royal Road" 200 blocks from my Base,  in all directions, but that's it.

[Stroam]

I'm against permanent light altogether and think that as soon as drifters aren't light based, all lights should require fuel. Now I'm not opposed to oil lamps with really bit fuel tanks or gas lines.

[tony Liberatto]

 I am very ambiguous about Permanent light Sources.

For one side I am all for anything that adds realism and immersion.

For the other, I am against things that demand high maintenance.

I have so many light sources around my base I can't even count.

So, in the end, I don't know how to balance that.

I think in terms of servers, even if we don't have mobs spawning inside the bases, I would not like for them to go dark.

Righ now I am planning to build a Temple. But it will be some blocks from my base, so I will not be going there every day. How can I make sure it will be lighted for any visitors if we don't have permanent light sources? At the same time, I like to have features that are realistic.

[Milo Christiansen]

Torches burning out is OK, since they are so cheap, but other (more expensive) sources should be permanent. Lanterns are expensive in materials, oil lamps are expensive in time and effort.

[Stroam]

@Milo Christiansen we have different definitions of expensive. If it takes me less than two hours starting from nothing to obtain it, I don't consider it expensive. I can get to iron in as little as 4 hours starting from nothing. 

[heptagonrus]

Reminding you guys ( especially Stroam  ) that my suggestion is not about a light source for lighting areas cheaply. Maybe I made a mistake writing "light lavel 2-3" (I have just corrected the starting post). Actually I guess I wanted something with light level 1 or even 0. Just some pretty stuff clearly visible at night. People would not be able to use it for lighting areas. Hopefully this correction will meet more positive feedback  
And thanks for all the suggestions and ideas and discussion, please continue, my reminder is in no way negative or restrictive.

[Stroam]

some glowing mushrooms would be a good thing for path edges.

[redram]

I'm with Stroam, I'm not a fan of permanent low tier light sources.  We already have fat lamps, and they seem plenty adequate to me.  I don't really see why people should be able to light roads cheaply.  If a given server wants cheaply lit roads, and fat lamps aren't cheap enough, have the admins hand them out, save everyone the headache of grinding 'cheap easy' lights. 

That said, I thought the way TFC dealt with the issue (consciously or not) was interesting.  Torches were cheap but temporary.  oil lamps overly expensive really but gave people a goal with olive farming.  Lava lamps the ultimate, permanent, good looking, but very pricey.   And then there were jackolanterns.  Jackolanterns were the cheap permanent source.  BUT they're ugly, and they take an entire block.  You could use them to light things, but unless you enjoyed a permanent halloween vibe, the best way was to bury them in your building or under your road, and chisel parts around them so light shone through, but not the ugly jackolantern.  I thought that a decent compromise, given that the torches going out thing was apparently pretty controversial.  So, *if* there were to be a cheap permanent light source, I'd recommend it take an entire block, and be ugly, or otherwise undesireable.   Maybe a big ugly glowy fungus blob? idk. 

[tony Liberatto]

I think we are missing the point that Heptagonrus wants to convey.

He is not talking about a chip permanent light source that is actually useful for lighting your base. Right now this light source would not be enough to prevent Mob spawning. I believe he is talking about something comparable to what some people have in their front yard. Those solar garden lights that barely illuminate the walkway, so you know not to step on the grass or plants. it is more a decorative light source.

That said, I think for Roads the Fat Lamp is good enough. I working alone have lighted 400 blocks of Road and a good part with lanterns. I plan on doing a total between 800 to 1000 blocks of Royal Road and all of it illuminated. 

Once you get to the iron age, the Lanter gets chipper, because copper is everywhere. So when I go exploring if I find copper I dig it out and smelt it when I feel like.

So, no I do not think we need another chip permanent light source. But what he is describing is not that.

Glowing Mushrooms would achieve his idea and would be very welcome by many players.

[redram]

So it'd be less a light source and more a glowing marker, ok.  Glowing mushrooms I would rather see as rare subterranean finds, as opposed to cheap and easy.  Light is such a powerful element, even if only decorative.  But I guess my suggestion for such a thing would be phosphorescent stone, that you combine with dirt (instead of four plain rocks) to make a 'glow in the dark' path.  Make it an ore, and the commonality can be adjusted based on user tastes.  If it's common as quartz then the player should have no trouble obtaining piles of it.

[tony Liberatto]

And here I am as Devil advocate, defending his idea even though I do not believe is actually needed.

What we need is a way to make fat lamps faster.

See here : 

 

 

[heptagonrus]

Still requires fat, which is not that abundant.