To people complaining about keeping up the bonfires

[Azazel's Echo]

So I've seen quite a few people complaining about keeping up the bonfires, I just wanted to say that it's not really a big deal as long as you place bonfires somewhat strategically on the map and you assign the correct amount of bots to keep them up all the time without you having to interact at all.

For example below you can see a screenshot of the layout of bonfires that I'm using since I started playing, it's working so well that I haven't upgraded them to furnaces yet (which I will do soon though!), I have 3 bots dealing with their assigned bonfires and 4 more bots gathering the fire. They are all self sufficient and they auto feed when they are low on batteries (that's a command that you unlock very early in the game). In the screenshot there are also other bots performing different tasks like gathering coal bricks to feed everybody (I will soon upgrade to Ale!) and crafting other stuff.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3165810866

My point is that with some simple commands you can easily keep a huge area warm with very little resources quite early in the game, also keep in mind that you can pause the game so you can keep up the bonfires up by yourself without much effort while setting everything up.

[Shonk]

Excellent tip! Small note, they are called Bonfires. I thought it was a little mistake, but I see it spelled as BONEfires multiple times.

[Azazel's Echo]

Originally posted by Shonk:

Excellent tip! Small note, they are called Bonfires. I thought it was a little mistake, but I see it spelled as BONEfires multiple times.

Thank you for correcting me, english is not my mother language so I'm always happy when someone points out some spelling error or wrong pronunciation, I love to improve myself! I'll go ahead and edit my post now.

[MangoNacre]

Originally posted by Azazel's Echo:

So I've seen quite a few people complaining about keeping up the bonfires, I just wanted to say that it's not really a big deal as long as you place bonfires somewhat strategically on the map and you assign the correct amount of bots to keep them up all the time without you having to interact at all.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3165810866

Thanks for this post, it's very helpful! Maybe you can help me with a related question?

How do you prevent the bonfire feeders from taking the storage box? Is it just a matter of making sure you have so many CraftMates making fire that the storage never runs out? At first I tried telling them to 'find and pick' fire, but they just stood at one bonfire, took out a fire, and put it back. So I went to 'pick from' and set the fire storage coordinates. But one fo them picked up the empty storage container and everything froze.

[Azazel's Echo]

I made a simple example function here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3168163472

You just have to tell the bot to pick fire only from storage (the icon below the fire icon) and then add an error path, so if the bot can't find the fire it just makes fire and then go and place it in the bonfire (the blue block with the coordinates).

[MangoNacre]

Ah! I completely forgot about the Error tab! Perfect! Thanks a lot!

[KapitanK]

I just assign 1 bot per bonfire...as bonfire works both as warming nearby terrain and fire storage, when i need fire i just get them from bonfire

[Azazel's Echo]

Originally posted by KapitanK:

I just assign 1 bot per bonfire...as bonfire works both as warming nearby terrain and fire storage, when i need fire i just get them from bonfire

That's very clever! Though you'll have an upgraded version of bonfire later on that doesn't use fire so you'll might have to change that strategy, also bonfires can't be moved by cargo bots, so you can't move them around automatically to optimize the bots pathing.

Also assigning one bot per bonfire is not very energy efficient, that means you'll have to produce more energy source to keep them charged, so there's also that to keep in mind. Having one bot to keep all bonfires up at once would be optimal and you can actually do that with the upgraded version of bonfires because they also last way longer than basic bonfires.

[fuelstaind]

I currently have 8 or so bonfires, each with a CM making fire for each one. How do I get them to choose between several fires to go to?

[Ratta]

Originally posted by fuelstaind:

I currently have 8 or so bonfires, each with a CM making fire for each one. How do I get them to choose between several fires to go to?

first of all, if u have access to a tree seed replace ur bonfires with furnaces, furnaces r ALOT cheaper to fuel than bonfires. other than that u can set up a single guy to fuel all fires from a single location by following this template https://imgur.com/a/RApGyBQ (i added a screenshot for each function i created within the fueler bots programm. note that there is a diffrence between the "fueler #1" function and "fueler #1+n" function, on the first one he is checking the amount of fuel stored in the first fire and is performing a wait command if the set limit is reached) if u insit of doing this with bonfires instead of furnances the concept is the same but the fuel will not last nearly as long as the wood fueling a furnace will last so u might need a 2nd fueler guy sooner

[Dozenbeer]

I understand that there are workarounds, but personally, I find this mechanic a bit challenging and stressful, especially when I'm just starting out and eager to experiment and learn. It's even more daunting knowing there are fail states that can't be recovered, such as having stones and coal covered in snow with no fires left. It's unlikely, but the thought alone adds a bit of unnecessary stress to the experience.

[Ratta]

Originally posted by Dozenbeer:

I understand that there are workarounds, but personally, I find this mechanic a bit challenging and stressful, especially when I'm just starting out and eager to experiment and learn. It's even more daunting knowing there are fail states that can't be recovered, such as having stones and coal covered in snow with no fires left. It's unlikely, but the thought alone adds a bit of unnecessary stress to the experience.

the first stone resource is not covered by the cold, and is giving u 3000 stone if u dont manage to NOT use bonfires within the first 3000 stone u use ur doing soemthing wrong.
also, as soon as u fuel up the vulcano ull likely be moving most but ur copper and iron mining to a new location that can never get cold

[fuzzy.logic0]

Originally posted by Ratta:

the first stone resource is not covered by the cold, and is giving u 3000 stone if u dont manage to NOT use bonfires within the first 3000 stone u use ur doing soemthing wrong.
also, as soon as u fuel up the vulcano ull likely be moving most but ur copper and iron mining to a new location that can never get cold

I'm going to have to hard disagree with this statement. As a seasoned programmer I can completely understand that learning these things takes time. Yes 3k resources is generous but it is not unending. Not enough energy for bots can definitely cause a spiral leading to a run ending disaster. Not progressing past bonfires in that time is not at all doing it wrong, it's learning. This does add an element of stress. I think I read that functions will be able to be shared across runs which is probably important for new players to not feel defeated and quit after a run ending mistake. This is also still in development, if you don't know about it Autonauts is fantastic and while production can halt it will never kill your progress.

[Ratta]

Originally posted by fuzzy.logic0:

Originally posted by Ratta:

the first stone resource is not covered by the cold, and is giving u 3000 stone if u dont manage to NOT use bonfires within the first 3000 stone u use ur doing soemthing wrong.
also, as soon as u fuel up the vulcano ull likely be moving most but ur copper and iron mining to a new location that can never get cold

I'm going to have to hard disagree with this statement. As a seasoned programmer I can completely understand that learning these things takes time. Yes 3k resources is generous but it is not unending. Not enough energy for bots can definitely cause a spiral leading to a run ending disaster. Not progressing past bonfires in that time is not at all doing it wrong, it's learning. This does add an element of stress. I think I read that functions will be able to be shared across runs which is probably important for new players to not feel defeated and quit after a run ending mistake. This is also still in development, if you don't know about it Autonauts is fantastic and while production can halt it will never kill your progress.

understanding that a furnace is providing heat in an area that is 90% bigger and for 3 times as long as a bonfire on 1 fuel at the cost of 0.6 units of water has nothing to do with programming tho

[[BLK] Telu]

I don't understand, i use the basic mechanics of checking if the bonfire is empty to refill it. But apparently, when my robot go idle, it doesn't wake up when the bonfire is empty again ...

[tarack331]

I know this an old thread but this is part of that. With the new system this is not an option for one bot to maintain multiple fires or at least not that I can figure out. Maybe I'm missing something but the system variables changed and it's no longer possible to get coordinates for the bonfires unless it''s something late game that I haven't come across in the skill tree. I am confused on how to proceed with this new system that I quit playing until they come out with new videos or a new tutorial. It sucks because I just bought the game.