Now that matches don't decay...

[Undecided Name For Now]

If I'm going to try to last as long as possible, should I be using my firestriker to light fires first to level up my firemaking, since matches no longer have a decay? I'm curious what you experienced players do. Firestriker is less weight if you carry matches around on you.

[H34VY_R41N]

I do the same as you described - firestiker first, except when I have books.

[Undecided Name For Now]

Right, which leads me to another question.
Is it better to use accelerant at the earlier stages in the game?
Same goes for books.

[H34VY_R41N]

I use accelerant for emergency cases. Books immediately

[Undecided Name For Now]

If I play on Pilgrim though.
At least for now.

My main goal is to last as long as possible and use my barehands for literally everything as much as possible and see how many days I can survive until I've used up literally every single resource in the game.

[Ungoliant]

if you have spare fuel to burn, just take 1000 torches out of a fire, string the torches together by lighting the next torch in your fire (or from your last torch on the ground before it goes out) and just use all those torches to light new fires back to back. you only need to light a fire with a single stick to get credit towards the skill, and once you hit lv 3 you no longer need tinder. so basically, you could theoretically get to lv 5 firemaking from a single match if you have enough sticks.

[Ungoliant]

regarding second question, yes, use your books and accelerant early game, most especially when you don't have a torch to light to use as your firestarter. accelerant is also especially useful when you are already freezing and cannot afford to wait for false starts, or if you have a wolf that you can't shake off and need him gone. wolves run from fire even while you are lighting it once they get close enough. used to be same with bears, but cannot confirm that for recent patches since i haven't tried it lately.

[ernestww]

I collected a pile of sticks and then lit a fire fueled with three sticks. That allows you to take a torch, then light a second fire using sticks and your torch - repeat. Not sure if this levels your firestarting as I stopped due to weather or boredom, but I don't see why it wouldn't.

[Undecided Name For Now]

I mean ♥♥♥♥ Ungoliant, that's one way to do it. Lmao.
Not too worried atm, as I'm doing Pilgrim, but good idea.

[ajb1978]

Originally posted by Ungoliant:

if you have spare fuel to burn, just take 1000 torches out of a fire, string the torches together by lighting the next torch in your fire (or from your last torch on the ground before it goes out) and just use all those torches to light new fires back to back. you only need to light a fire with a single stick to get credit towards the skill, and once you hit lv 3 you no longer need tinder. so basically, you could theoretically get to lv 5 firemaking from a single match if you have enough sticks.

This. Once you get yourself settled, find yourself a nice wind-protected area like a cave, bring along some food and water, then start three campfires and rotate them. With three campfires, you will never have to wait for one to burn out before starting another. When your torch is below 20%, toss it in the fire, add a couple sticks, take a fresh torch, and keep on restarting the campfires. (When you're at level 4 you can wait until the torch is at 10%, since it's unlikely you will fail twice in a row and burn the torch out.) Don't bother sleeping, just keep building fires one after another, and you can max out your fire building skill in a day. Once you're at Master, sleep off your condition loss, and get on with your life.

[gundam_elf]

Best thing to do is use your magnifying glass as much as possible. Sure, you have to constantly build a fire at multiple locations in order to avoid the fire getting blown out by the wind. But it's the best way to conserve matches, firestrikers, and the ever elusive flint (which I have yet to find). Build a fire at every opportunity, even for just an hour, to build up your firestarting skill. It takes forever, but few things worse than using up two or more matches just for a fire.

[frankiemachine]

Originally posted by Samuel:

If I play on Pilgrim though.
At least for now.

My main goal is to last as long as possible and use my barehands for literally everything as much as possible and see how many days I can survive until I've used up literally every single resource in the game.

On Pilgrim .... this will take a very long time. After 500 days the only thing I can see getting used up is cured leather ... and I wasn't really doing things "economically".

[Undecided Name For Now]

Originally posted by gundam_elf:

Best thing to do is use your magnifying glass as much as possible. Sure, you have to constantly build a fire at multiple locations in order to avoid the fire getting blown out by the wind. But it's the best way to conserve matches, firestrikers, and the ever elusive flint (which I have yet to find). Build a fire at every opportunity, even for just an hour, to build up your firestarting skill. It takes forever, but few things worse than using up two or more matches just for a fire.

Flint is not currently in the game, according to the wiki.

[Rune]

Dead torches can also be harvested for a single stick. This lets you pull fuel off an active fire that would otherwise go to waste (if you need to leave or added too much etc).

Theoretically with level 5 fire skill you could add 11 and a half minutes to the fire from a stick, but only remove 10 by taking a torch. Then harvest it back to a stick. Haven't got to test this yet but could serve to duplicate fuel.

[Undecided Name For Now]

I do tend to break down dead torches, or in story mode, mark buildings I'd already scavenged. (Did this ALOT in Episode 1. I didn't know Milton)

Worst part is, I'd have a torch out, ready when I played, and unfortunately, sometimes when picking things up like sticks or stones, I'd double click, to pick it up and take it, and waste 2 matches instantly, because Hinterland needs to fix that 'I'm starting to light something but don't actually intend to use it' issue. Like, I understand if there's a mechanic where just the act of lighting a torch can scare away a wolf, but man, so many matches wasted in Episode 1 because I was so uncomfortable in new territory. I hadn't found the lantern in the gas station yet.